


Broken Boy

by LiviJoyann



Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves Friendship, Ben Hargreeves is Alive, Brotherly Love, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Drug Addiction, Drug Use, Dysfunctional Family, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Family, Family Drama, Family Feels, Fluff, Good Brother Ben Hargreeves, Good Brother Diego Hargreeves, Good Brother Luther Hargreeves, Good Brother Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy), Good Sister Allison Hargreeves, Good Sister Vanya Hargreeves, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, Klaus Hargreeves Deserves Better, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus Hargreeves Needs Help, Light BDSM, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Mental Institutions, Multi, No Incest, Pansexual Klaus Hargreeves, Platonic Relationships, Rehabilitation, Sad Klaus Hargreeves, Sibling Bonding, Siblings, Team as Family, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-02-28 15:56:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 34,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18759640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiviJoyann/pseuds/LiviJoyann
Summary: Klaus falls back into bad habits and Ben is worried. With the complications of Number Six having his own life now though, Klaus starts pushing him away like everyone else. Eventually, things get out of hand and Klaus is found in such a bad state that the siblings know they need outside help. Against his will, they manage to get him into a rehabilitation facility.





	1. Pointless Drive to Nowhere

"Ben!"

Number Six sighed, gripping his book tighter. He swore to God if he heard that bonehead call his name one more time…

"Beeeeeeeeeeeeeen."

Ben shoved the book down on his bed and swung his legs over the side, rushing across the hall and bursting through his Klaus's door to yet again, an empty room.

"For fuck's sake…" Ben muttered, looking around for any sign of Number Four. It was just as it had been the last three times his brother called him in there though- vacant. This was the last time, Ben promised himself. Whatever game Klaus was playing at, he was done.

That's when he heard giggling… from above him.

"What the-"

Ben turned his eyes up to see his train wreck of a best friend sitting, upside down on the ceiling. His hands covered his face as he tried not to burst out laughing but he was failing miserably.

"Your face…" He managed to choke out before bursting into giggles again. His shirt was raised slightly from his waist from the gravity, his hair disheveled in the same fashion. Ben shouldn't be surprised by anything anymore but… What the fuck?

Turns out Klaus can levitate or something. His powers had been coming in the longer he stayed sober which meant that all six siblings had to deal with moments like this. Ben was happy for him, really… but at what cost?

"Wait- wait… Tell Diego to come in here."

"No."

"Diego!"

Klaus's plan didn't go as smoothly with Number 2 though. As soon as Diego came in, he lost his… whatever force was holding him up and came tumbling down. With a yelp, Klaus took both of them to the ground, immediately bounding back up and out of the room because he  _knew_ Diego would be out for blood.

"What the hell, Klaus?" Two jumped up and moved his shoulder around, grimacing from the pain before taking off to chase the laughing menace around the house.

Moments like these made the Academy feel like they never left their 13-year-old days, especially since Klaus was basically still a child and brought out the same type of behavior in others.

They saved the apocalypse from happening (no biggie) and managed to jump forward in time to their 30-year-old selves again… Ben included. He didn't know why it worked or why he didn't turn right back into a ghost when they transported back, but he had a sneaking suspicion that Five had something to do with it. Their brother seemed to have an alternative mission the whole time that they were back in 2002, muttering things about altering the timeline for that 'fateful day'.

He didn't ask. He knew Five liked it better that way. The 58-year-old psycho knew how much Ben appreciated it, as well as all the others.

Ever since then, Ben was just eating life up as much as he could. He felt like if he didn't he would be deemed unworthy and have to relinquish himself to the unchanging prison that was ghost-hood.

The only negative part was that their fix to the timeline in order to prevent the worldwide destruction… Well, it created some "quantum, spatial, time… whatever" complications. Basically, there were instances of these black-hole-like anomalies arising around the world. Five said they should fade out eventually, but for now, they were unpredictable, dangerous, and caused mass panic:

The perfect climate for the world to need the return of the "great" Umbrella Academy.

These instances had been their missions lately- An anomaly arose, Five jumped them all there, they saved everyone they could from being swallowed by a giant, freak of nature hole that ripped through the deepest caverns of time and space.

No one could leave now- they couldn't split the team up amidst the sporadic chaos. The world once again needed the Academy… and for once, not one of them were really complaining. In fact, Ben felt like they were all relieved to have a reason to stick together.

Even further on the subject was Klaus and Ben's relationship. It was just understood that they were a package deal at this point- after 17 years of sharing a life… and a death… Well, Ben just continued to stick to Klaus like glue and vice versa to keep matters short. It was just natural.

"You know you're not tethered together anymore." Allison said one morning upon coming down to the kitchen to find Ben casually eating cereal on the couch while Klaus splayed across the cushions, legs comfortable stretched onto Ben's lap.

"You guys are in one of those grossly cute but low-key unhealthy, dependent relationships that people are just too scared to talk about." Diego said, taking a bite of his pancake. The room turned to him, taken aback by his very uncharacteristic, teen-girl-like comment. "What?"

While some things were the same in this regard, there were some things that were different… Ben just couldn't quite place his finger on it. It was Klaus- there was something going on with him that he wouldn't outwardly say and without the ability to follow him around 24/7, Ben wasn't quite sure what it was.

They were small details- the falter of his smile and the darkening of his eyes when laughing with his siblings. His sometimes-quiet daze during dinner that no one else noticed amongst the chaos of seven ravenous siblings newly-returned from a mission. Sometimes he'd get so jittery that he'd tear up the skin around his fingers and bite away his nails. Sometimes he'd stay in his room just a bit too long for Ben's liking, only relinquishing to society when Ben pulled him out to do something.

Six couldn't help but feel like he was being pushed away from his brother. It was understandable- they couldn't be together every waking moment now that Ben had his own life to live, but he was worried how that might affect the same person who could barely tie his own shoes. It wasn't that he didn't have faith in Klaus but with his destructive history, these little, worrisome moments Ben was noticing could lead to any number of big catastrophes in the future.

The only thing was, every time Ben tried to bring up his concerns to Klaus, Four would push him away like he pushed away everyone else. Ben didn't want to become like everyone else though. Klaus told him  _everything._ Would having life really change that?

One particular evening, they were returning from a mission all the way in Bangladesh. It was specifically horrific when they arrived, a group of good Samaritans trying to pull a half-mangled woman from the destructive grasps of a temporal anomaly. That was just the beginning of it too.

"Anyone need a drink as much as I do?" Five asked bitterly upon coming home through the Academy doors, sounding exhausted as Ben felt. His abdomen felt like someone had punched it on repeat for a couple of hours. It never felt great after having to use his power- physically or psychologically.

"Me."

"Me."

"Yep."

"Whatever your making, I'm drinking."

Very strange having a 13-year-old kid as your bartender. Ben hadn't even had a drink before last week when Klaus took him out for his first one (after promising to only order a sprite for himself).

Speaking of Klaus…

"Where'd Klaus go?"

"Oh shit, we jumped him back right?" Diego asked, jumping up.

"Yes, he was on my left. I'm not an idiot." Five countered from the bar, easing their minds in a rude fashion as Five typically did. No one seemed to have a good answer from there, so Ben went upstairs.

He came across Klaus's closed door, giving it a few raps.

"Hey. You in there?"

He heard a crash but no verbal answer. Ben frowned and gingerly touched the doorknob, not sure if there was going to be some kind of situation where he'd need to burst in. Who knows with Klaus?

"Klaus? You okay?"

"Uh… Yeah. I'll be down in a second."

Ben lingered. There was something in his voice… For as frequently as he did it, Klaus had never been a very good liar.

"You sure?"

No answer. Instead, there was a hurried ruckus that was muffled by the barrier of the door. Ben could tell he was rummaging around though, and that  _wasn't_ what you wanted to hear coming from a previous-junkie's room.

"Shit… Klaus! Hey, whatever you're doing-" Ben tried to call out. His hand gripped the doorknob and he said a little prayer of thanks that Klaus didn't lock it. He pushed into the room to find the whole place turned upside down. Pillows torn, chairs overturned, teapots scattered… Klaus himself was hunched over his bed corner, fishing for something underneath the mattress.

"Hey!" Ben yelled, jumping forward and pulling him back by his shoulders. Klaus whined and stumbled to a stance.

"No, no, no…"

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I can't do it, Ben. I can't, I can't, I can't." He rushed back forward towards his bed but Ben grabbed his wrist and yanked him around quickly. Klaus groaned and put his hands on Six's shoulders, leaning into him with pleading eyes. "If I just do it once, I'll get it out of my system." Klaus tried to convince him, gripping at Ben's shirt desperately. "I can just-"

"No! Absolutely not."

Klaus rolled his eyes and theatrically collapsed on floor. He sat back against his bed frame, his head falling back onto the mattress. His "Goodbye" arm raised up and flopped across his face.

"Beeeee-heh-heeeeen." He continued to whine tiredly.

"Oh, woe is you." Ben rolled his eyes, reaching forward and taking his brother's wrists again but pulling him up much more gently.

"Stop manhandling me."

Ben ignored him.

"Let's go downstairs, yeah? Get your mind off of it."

Thank goodness that they had already cleared Klaus's room out a couple of weeks ago when they returned to the present. The sheer number of places he was hiding emergency drugs was insane. Ben made a mental note to do a second search when Klaus was out sometime. If he was willing to hide baggies of pills in stuffed animals, Mom's shoe boxes, and pickle jars, who know where there still may be some hiding.

"Okay, but-"

"Klaus."

"Fiiine."

He didn't move though. Klaus stood in the middle of the room with his shoulder hung sadly and his face frozen in lost thought. Ben put a hand on his shoulder and shook him lightly.

"Klaaaauus."

"What's wrong with me?" He asked quietly, his tone completely shifted from the frantic pleading from five seconds ago. Ben would've thought he'd prefer for Klaus to approach this whole thing seriously, but after hearing the break in his voice like that… He almost preferred the incessant begging.

"Dude, it's totally normal. You're doing great. Seriously-  _seventeen years_ of constantly being high as all hell and then quitting cold turkey-"

"Yeah, I  _am_ pretty great." Klaus snapped right back into his normal diva persona. Ben smirked and walked around behind Klaus so that he could place sturdy hands on his shoulders and force him to start walking out of his room.

"Where are we going?" He asked begrudgingly, taking heavy, resistant steps forward and letting Ben guide him.

"Shut up and stop whining."

Ben ended up sitting him down on a kitchen chair despite his tired protests.

"Stay there."

He left to go find Diego. If he wanted to distract Klaus, he needed to get him out of the house and the fact that neither of them could drive kind of posed some obstacles with that. As soon as Ben explained his reason for needing a quick road trip, Diego was immediately on board. He knew he had always been wildly supportive of Klaus staying clean and adopting a healthier lifestyle. Diego didn't need convincing.

When they walked back down to the kitchen to grab Klaus, there was already a scene of chaos in just the short minute that Ben was gone. Klaus was trying to get to a cupboard but was hindered by Five who just kept reappearing in the same spot every time Number Four shoved him aside.

"You're not going to get anywhere like this." Five said, irritated. Klaus kept persisting though, shoving his brother aside harder and harder than the time before.

"Hey- Hey!" Diego yelled, pulling them apart. "Klaus, take a chill pill."

"I'm  _TRYING_ to."

"Wh- No, no… Bad analogy. Calm down, alright? Let's go for a ride. Five- you coming?"

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know. Nowhere. Everywhere."

"Why would we drive without a destination?"

"For fun. Or don't you know what that word means?"

Five shot Diego a dirty look. "I can have  _fun_."

A chorus of "Nah…" "Mm..." "Yeah, okay…" erupted as Klaus, Ben, and Diego alike all doubted this statement.

"Screw you guys. Fine. I'll come on your pointless drive to nowhere. It'll be 'fun'."

Diego slung an arm around Klaus's neck and started dragging him out of the room playfully.

"Maybe some tacos, yeah?" He asked, squeezing Klaus's shoulder.

"Not from Willie's."

"Agreed."

Ben glanced back at Five who had turned his back.

"You coming?"

Five held up his finger, telling Ben to hold on. He moved to the cupboard he was guarding, digging around a bit before opening a box of dish soap and pulling out a little baggie with white pills. He shook it in the air, examining them in disappointment.

"I swear…" He mumbled, moving to the sink and dumping them into the drain before letting the water run.

"We should probably do a search of the house again soon." Ben said, watching as Five turned the faucet off and joined Number 6 in following their other brothers.

"Burn it down, more like it. There's no way we'll ever find everything he's hid over the years."

Ten minutes later, Diego sped down a country road, turning up the radio  _just_ a bit louder, as if it wasn't already blasting the whole city away. Ben sat behind Diego, leaning back with his knees propped up on the driver's seat. Klaus was beside him, also in the back and Five was in the passenger seat being jostled around violently by the dipshit behind him.

"Taaaake onnnnn meeeee." They all yelled in unison but not at all in any particular key. Klaus had Five's shoulders tightly in his grasp and was shaking the kid back and forth to the music. A reluctant-at-first but genuine smile broke out on the assassin's face. Ben couldn't help but laugh at the odd sight.

"Take meeee onnnnn. I'll beeeee gooooonneeeee!"

At the falsetto, Klaus literally fucking  _screeched_ like a little girl in an ax-murder, horror film. Five quickly covered his ears, flinching away but chuckling. Klaus ruffled his hair before letting Five go.

They got through plenty of other rock anthems from the 60s, 70s, 80s… Ben had always wanted this. Admittedly, he often found himself thinking about it especially when he was newly dead. He loved these moments with his brothers where for once, no one was talking about the next mission or the next fight. They  _almost_ felt normal.

Klaus was doing noticeably better. He had his normal energy and bravado… for the most part. There were subtle moments where Klaus would suddenly be absent from singing or absent from the conversation. Ben would glance over and his knees would be pulled up, his fingernails digging into the skin of his ankles with his gaze set nervously out the window.

Ben would nudge him back into reality, but not without a fleck of turmoil still in Klaus's irises. Six just hoped that these were only passing moments of weakness. He knew that the timing wasn't great- right as Klaus was trying to tough through sobriety, Ben gets his life back and can't be there every lingering second.

He hoped his brother wasn't pushing him away.

He hoped this wouldn't be a bigger issue than what they bargained for.

But it was.


	2. Donut?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Klaus lets his other vice get out of hand. Ben sees that he's in a downward spiral.

His eyes were getting heavy and he reached a lull in his book, but Ben couldn't sleep even if he tried. Five was in a similar boat, sitting in the lounge chair across the couch that Number Six was sprawled out across.

Vanya walked into the living room, the spare house key she possesed held in hand.

"Thought you were sleeping at your place tonight." Five perked up from where he was slowly drifting off. Ben looked up, also curious.

"Yeah, uh… Allison left her jacket when she stayed over the other day and I was up late practicing anyway. So... why are  _you_  guys down here so late?"

They didn't answer- they didn't need to. A  _crash_ emanated from upstairs followed by other bangs and shatters. Vanya's eyes went wide as she snapped her gaze to the stairs and back to her brothers. Ben just gave her an unamused look and shook his head.

A wash of realization took over her features.

"Did Klaus bring someone home  _again_?" She asked in disbelief. Ben  _wished_ he could have been as naïve to Klaus's tendencies as his siblings were. He wished he could be surprised by this, but he wasn't in the slightest.

"As long as it's not drugs." Ben sighed, trying to get back into his book but failing amidst the presence of his siblings and the sounds drifting in from Klaus's room.

"Fuck that!" Five argued, regaining his energy and sitting up angrily. "This is-"

_CRASH._

"- shit! What the hell are they doing up there?"

"You think  _this_ is bad?" Ben scoffed, finally giving up on his text and dropping the book onto his lap. "Try years of walking in on shit you  _never_ wanted to see your brother doing. The worst part is, he has absolutely no shame about anything."

Vanya chuckled and shook her head, taking a seat on the couch next to Ben's feet just as things went quiet. The three of them perked up.

"You think they're done?" Vanya whispered as if she talked too loud, it'd start all over again.

No matter… It started all over again anyway, even louder than before.

"I'm going up there." Five decided, jumping to his feet. Ben scurried off the couch and grabbed his brother's wiry arms before he could spatial-jump to the second floor.

"No! Trust me. You don't know what you're gonna get-"

"I've seen a lot of crazy shit, Ben."

"I'm serious, Dude. This is me trying to help you."

Five shot Vanya a dirty look when she couldn't help but hide her muffled laughter beneath her hand.

"Oh, it's funny, huh? You get to go home to a place that's not being defiled by your brother and a slut for every day of the week."

"Woaaaahhh…" Vanya raised her hands to tell Five to calm down. "You guys can come sleep over, 'kay?"

Five pulled himself from Ben's grasp and straightened his pajamas out, regaining some civil dignity.

"I will graciously accept the offer." He said, a tinge of bitterness still attached to his softer tone. "I'll be right back." He flashed out of the room.

Ben sighed and picked up his book.

"I'm kinda used to it by now. I'd miss my bed. Thanks though, V."

The next morning, Ben was exhausted. Not even from Klaus's "endeavors" that created a symphony of interesting sounds throughout the night, but just from his own problems. Going from being dead to having life wasn't just a 'take a day to get used to it' kind of situation. There were things Ben hadn't done in over 15 years that you'd think were just second nature, but that was far from the truth… Sleep specifically. Sometimes he felt as though he forgot how.

Luckily, he came down to a couple boxes of donuts thanks to Diego who had graciously bought some for everyone on the way over from the boxing ring. He split his time between his room at the ring and the Academy and no one questioned it- Yeah, they were finally learning to be some resemblance of a family again but that didn't mean they didn't get on each other's nerves and clash often. It was just better that they all took care to give themselves space once and a while.

"These from Griddy's?" Luther asked, taking a bite and devouring half a donut.

"You mean Little Duck. New management. The old donut lady just got up and left Griddy's behind apparently." Diego said, opening the second box and offering Ben a pastry. He thanked his brother and accepted, needing the extra sugar. He forgot how much a lack of sleep affected his mood. He felt lethargic and cranky.

"Hello, hello." Vanya called, walking in through the front door with Five. "Ooh… Donuts."

Everyone but Klaus ended up joining the group down in the living room, all munching on their breakfast treats and discussing Five's prediction for an anomaly appearance in Florida today. Ben mentally groaned. He was  _not_ feeling tentacle-y today. He never really felt like summoning a beast from his abdomen, but this particular Sunday, especially so.

"…but then I  _did_ remember to carry over the sequential aftermath outcome figures and it fits with the coordinates. There a little town outside of Jacksonville that…" Five trailed off in his ridiculously complicated ramblings, his eyes catching on something ahead of him. Everyone turned to follow his gaze, finding some half-naked guy tiredly trudging down the Academy steps. He reached the bottom in the foyer, turning to meet all the stares frozen in shock.

No one moved. For a split second, Ben actually wondered if time stopped.

"Uh…" Luther awkwardly broke the air's stillness. "Donut?" He held out one of the open boxes. The guy broke into an equally awkward but polite smile as he reached for a chocolate glazed.

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks."

And with that, he turned and left. Ben raised his eyebrows at Five, remembering the obscene sounds coming from the end of the hall last night. It was even more unsettling to pair a face with the ruckus.

"So…  _What?_ " Luther spoke up after the guy was gone, looking back at everyone for some kind of answer.

"What?" Ben asked, swallowing a bite of food. "You didn't hear that Klaus had someone over last night?"

"No, I- Of course, I did. Who could miss it? Just-" Luther trailed off, staring at the front door where the man had left. Ben looked around to find that most of his siblings seemed just as perplexed as Number One was.

Was Ben missing something here?

"What?"

"N- Nothing." Luther shook off, clearly still in deep thought about something. Ben shrugged. He was too tired to press. Apparently, there was no need either way. Luther couldn't hold it in. "Klaus is gay?"

Ben raised his eyebrows and looked up around the room where everyone was now looking to him for confirmation.  _Ohhhhhh…_ Now that he thought about it, he guessed there was never an instance where they would've definitively figured out that Klaus's sexuality was just as colorful as his personality.

"Uh… Kinda? Not exactly, but-"

Speak of the devil…

"Morning sunshine." Five interrupted Ben as a more-than-half-naked Klaus stumbled down the stairs and into the living room. He only wore his underwear, not phased for a fraction of a second about his own appearance. Ben was used to it, but it amused him to see Luther's slight shock. "Hope you had just a  _glorious_  sleep last night."

Damn, there was so much salt in that statement, even for Five. Ben didn't blame him. The kid was on his third cup of coffee. It usually took him at least until ten to get to that point.

Klaus squeezed his eyes shut against the light seeping in through the large windows and rubbed his face tiredly. He just groaned in response, blinking his eyes open enough to locate the donut box on the coffee table and bend down to swipe one.

"Thanks, Diego, dear." Klaus mumbled. As he reached down for a vanilla sprinkles, Ben noticed something and he couldn't help as his instincts took over. Number Six shot a hand forward from where he sat on the couch, catching Klaus's wrist in his hand and pulling up his arm while twisting it so that the underside was facing the light.

Bruises. Dark, multi-colored, patterned bruises covered Klaus's forearm and trailed down to his elbow.

Klaus jerked back with his donut, shooting Ben a dirty look.

"I'm starting to think you're abusing your new touchy-feely ability,  _Ben._ " He spat bitterly, shrinking his arm back against his side and moving away from Six.

"Klaus, what the fuck?" Ben didn't care that he was 'inconveniencing' his brother's morning. He had seen a lot in terms of Klaus's weird niches, the whole pain thing included, but this just looked  _bad_. He frowned up at Number Four, jaw tight.

" _What_? Whaaaaaaat… Give a guy life and he gets judgy, Jesus."

Ben looked at the rest of his siblings. They exchanged a similar glance, telling him that they too had seen the marks. No one moved though. If Ben didn't know how to approach, then they sure as hell didn't. Ben had been through a decade and a half of "Klaus management training" and still, he couldn't pin this kid down.

Klaus continued through a bite of donut.

"And it's not like this is new. Why are you getting your panties all-"

"Look at this!" Ben cut him off, knowing he had no argument. He gestured towards the skin above Klaus's waistband right on his hipbones; more bruising and dark marks. Klaus glanced down as if he hadn't even noticed it himself yet.

"Let me live my life,  _Dad_." Klaus mocked, taking a sassy bite of his donut while maintaining biting eye contact with Ben the entire time. Five moved from the lounge chair and spatial-jumped a few feet. He appeared in front of Klaus, midair. With lightning fast movement, Five persisted in grabbing a handful of Klaus's hair and pulling him into a hunched over stance as the kid fell back to his feet on the ground.

"Ow! Hey-" Klaus complained, trying to pull his head back up, but Five had a good hold on his curls, manually turning his head from side to side and examining Klaus's neck. It was then when Ben realized that there were deep, dark bite marks…

"Woahhhhh…"

"Holy shit, dude."

"Fuck."

"My God, Klaus."

The whole room burst into expressions of shock and awe. Klaus shoved Five back and stood up at full height again, shrinking back defensively.

"For Christ's sake… If I knew breakfast would just turn into a 'let's put Klaus on display and criticize his life decisions' kind of deal, I would've stayed in bed."

With that, he turned to leave, making his way back towards the stairs. Everyone else looked mortified. Ben just shook his head. He was too tired for this shit.

He hopped up and followed Klaus to the bottom of the stairs as the conversation picked back up in the living room without them.

"Hey…" Ben called out. Klaus ignored him, taking a step up. Ben physically turned him around with a hand on his shoulder, quickly taking Klaus's chin before he could deny him access. Ben gripped his brother's jaw and tipped his head to the side to examine his neck.

Shit, that wasn't pretty. Was the guy trying to  _eat_ him?

Ben was suddenly aware of Klaus's eyes on him. He looked into the orbs that were only half a foot from his own. It was almost as if his brother was saying something  _completely_ different than his actions through the soft pleading of his eyes. There was something  _so wrong_  and it was  _killing_ Ben that Klaus wouldn't come right out and say it.

"Klaus…" Ben softened at the unexpected emotion conveyed through Klaus's irises. "There are healthy kinks and there's… this is… this isn't healthy, bro. Like, really, you should have Mom take a look-"

Ben gingerly touched his fingers to one of the bite marks and Klaus cringed away, scoffing in the process at Number Six's request.

"I thought you all wanted me to get sober! Sobriety… Lack of physical stimulation… I can't do both, people!"

"You're supposed to want to get sober for  _yourself_." Ben said, crossing his arms in front of him. He was very aware that he looked like a scolding mother right now, but honestly, that's really what Klaus needed at this point.

"Save it, Benji." Klaus put his hands on Ben's squared shoulders, giving his brother a small shake. "I'm okayyyy. Just having fun." He 'reassured'.

Ben hated that Klaus switched on this 'I'm so adorable and quirky and caring' persona. He saw it all the time when he was a ghost. Ben would know how his brother was dying inside and yet he watched him time and time again turn on this outer shell so that no one would see what it was truly like to be Klaus Hargreeves.

Ben was never one of those people though. Not until now.

And he had hoped it'd be only a phase, but every day from then on, Ben would find more concerning marks on Number Four. At one point, Ben got frustrated when they were all out for pizza after a mission, catching Klaus at the soda machine so that no one else could hear him.

"My God… Do you even have sex anymore or are you just inviting people over to kick the shit out of you?"

He got a pretty hard jab in the side for that one.

And the worst part was that apart from Klaus's dark, night adventures with all kinds of strangers, he acted so very Klaus-like. To anyone else, it'd just seem like the normal, irritating, loud, non-stop, wild day-to-day persona of Number Four. Ben knew it was all a show though… Things with Klaus typically were, but this was different. This was bad… Very bad.

Something was going on his brother and he was going to figure it out before it got worse or else… Well, it was Klaus. Who the hell knows what could happen?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I enjoyed how they subtly mention Klaus's affinity for pain in the show. He has absolutely no shame for who he is and I love it. However, not when it becomes unsafe like in this chapter!
> 
> Anyway... Any Sims 4 players out there? I made the Academy and all the characters on Sims and have been having a blast. I've never tried to make a Sims house as accurate to the inspiration as I have done with the Academy. I went through the episodes and went frame by frame to recreate it all haha. If anyone wants it, I can upload it to the Sims database thing.
> 
> As always, you guys are so, so, so amazing and wonderfully kind. I'm so lucky to be able to share with other Klaus-lovers! I'll update ASAP.


	3. Four Will Kill You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Klaus takes Ben out for some quality time but gets more than he bargained for.

"Benny. Let's go." A voice came from his doorway. Ben was in the middle of hanging up his Academy suit after Mom had washed it following their most recent mission. There had been a strange but relaxing lull… no reports of anomalies lately. They needed the break, but Ben was starting to go a little stir crazy. He'd get out and do stuff with his siblings once and a while, sure, but they all had lives that they had built over the past however many years. Ben didn't have anything but the Academy. The last time he lived, this was his entire life.

Of course, he had Klaus, but his brother had become increasingly… preoccupied. He'd disappear and reappear hours later, looking exhausted and dazed and would go straight to sleep. Ben made sure to keep a careful eye on his mannerisms, hoping to God that Klaus wouldn't reach the point where he returned high after all of his hard work.

Ben made the mistake of bringing up his concern once, earning a whole slew of defensive arguments from Number Four.

"No, no…  _I_ get it,  _Ben._ I can't possibly be anything but the token junkie, it's my defining trait. Whatever-"

"For God's sake, Klaus. I'm just checking up on you."

"God has nothing to do with it and quite frankly, she's kind of a bitch. And I'm not a child."

"Since when?"

"Ha-ha. Decide to suddenly grow a sense of humor, did we?"

"Forget I said anything."

Ben walked out after that, trying to keep down the bubbling in his chest. That's just what Klaus wanted- to push Ben's buttons enough to make him go off and turn the conversation into a fight about something  _totally_ different from the real topic Ben was trying to tackle. And if anything was Klaus's specialty, it was pushing people's buttons.

About five minutes later, Klaus inched his way into Ben's room, sitting next to him quietly for a while. Klaus's eyes would flicker to Ben as Number Six sorted through some of Five's research papers that he was trying to learn about.

Another Klaus move- waiting for you to make the first move and say something. So theatrical. Ben didn't give in though, and Klaus had no patience.

"Ugh… I'm sorry, okay? Sorry. Sorry. I'm not back on drugs aaaaand I understand why you'd ask but, yeah. It's fine so let's go see a movie."

And then they'd go to the theater and forget the whole thing.

These little skirmishes didn't seem like much, but it felt like they were constantly teetering on the edge of diving into what was really plaguing Klaus and pretending everything was fine. This wasn't them. It was never them, even when they were kids.

It was like Ben didn't know him anymore. It was Klaus- the stylish, sassy, nuisance of a diva that he's known to be, but only a proxy version… a fake. So, what did this version do with the real Klaus?

Anyway…

"Benny. Let's go."

"What? Where?" Ben asked, turning to see Klaus leaning against his doorframe, tapping the wall anxiously.

"You'll see! C'mon. C'moooooon." He called as he turned and walked away, assuming his brother would follow. He did.

They walked downtown against the setting sun until they reached a thin but relatively tall building. It was old-looking in terms of architecture but had obviously been restored pristinely. The inside was of similar, intricate beauty. Decoratively carved dark oak covered the inside walls stretching up four stories. Every inch of surface was lined with shelves and on those shelves?

So. Many. Fucking. Books.

Ben gave a half smile. This was obviously for him. Sometimes…  _sometimes_  Klaus was kind of the greatest.

"What is this?" Ben asked, looking around at the very busy setting. There were people ordering drinks from a coffee bar on the other side of the room and sitting at the tables set around a small stage where it looked like a band was setting up. Some guy in ripped jeans approached the mic and started saying a few words as his group set up behind him.

"I guess it's where all people who are too lame to  _really_ party go according to some chick I met last night." Klaus talked over the noise, lighting a cigarette and taking a puff. "I.E., you." He finished, making Ben chuckle. "They collect all this antique first edition book crap. Signings, film screenings, drinks, "Star Wars night" or whatever..." He continued, waving his cigarette in the air in front of him between his two fingers as he talked. "Nerd stuff. Stuff you'd like."

"Thanks." Ben rolled his eyes, but truly, he was touched. Klaus had his moments.

His brother exhaled another breath of smoke and shrugged.

"I figured it's probably hard, you know. Trying to figure out what you are in this brand new "living" situation. Kinda… Kinda weird." He mumbled. Another smoke.

"Um, excuse me? Excuse me… you can't do that in here." A mousy girl with an apron said, approaching Klaus who looked down at her, his hand extended with the cigarette and his weight shifted onto his popped hip… the ultimate drama queen stance. His look even said 'you are unworthy'. He didn't say anything. Klaus just stared at the poor woman who didn't really know what to do next. "Uh…"

Ben sighed and took the cigarette from Klaus's hand.

"We got it. Thank you." He told the woman, grabbing an empty beer bottle from a deserted table and extinguishing the light in a way he's seen Klaus do a billion times. The lady gave Klaus (who was still just staring at her) another disturbed look before turning and making her way back through the crowd. Klaus relaxed his pose, digging into his jacket pocket and pulling out his box of smokes.

Ben sighed. His brother lit another cigarette.

Whatever. He didn't want to start a fight now.

"Plus, the band's good. Had a thing with the drummer 'bout a year ago. Remember that guy with the…" Klaus motioned his hand around his shoulder area. "…uh… tattoo… that cartoon aardvark…"

"Arthur."

"Yeah!" Klaus exclaimed, giggling and pointing at Ben. "Yeah, that's it. Arthur the aardvark- right on his shoulder. Crazy. Let's get a drink."

Ben opened his mouth.

"Let's get  _you_ a drink." Klaus turned and corrected before Six could utter a single word of protest.

"I don't need anything. Especially if it'll just make it harder for you to be around."

"Nonsense, Benny-boy."

Ten minutes and one vodka tonic later, the boys sat at a table on the second-floor balcony listening to the band who was, in fact, quite good. Ben couldn't help but keep looking around at the place. He couldn't wait to come back in the day when it was less packed and much quieter. He had missed his family, but they were already starting to get on his nerves from time to time. A place like this to escape to in walking distance?

Perfect.

"…back." Klaus called something over the music, but the end was all Ben could make out.

"What?"

"Bathroom. I'll be right back."

Klaus got up and passed behind Ben's chair, patting him on the chest before he disappeared through the crowd milling around the balcony banister. Ben watched him go, not able to help the nervousness that flared up in his chest.

Obviously, he couldn't helicopter parent Klaus to the point where he followed him even to the bathroom, but Ben had been in hyper-defense mode lately. He couldn't help but analyze every single move Klaus made.

 _It's just the bathroom. Humans go to the bathroom. It's okay._ He told himself. Maybe Klaus was right- he needed to stop worrying so much. After all, his brother was acting fairly normal tonight. It felt natural for once save for how jittery Klaus was being. His foot never stopped shaking from the moment they sat down. His fingers were constantly drumming against something and he was biting his nails a lot.

That was normal though, ever since he kicked the drugs. If anything, that was a good sign… right?

He did wish he could take away some of Klaus's anxiety though. He wished he'd at least talk about it.

When more time passed than Ben would've liked, he started to worry. What if this was all some elaborate plan to distract Ben from Klaus meeting with a dealer nearby? It didn't even have to be drugs… Leave Klaus alone for just ten minutes and he could get into all sorts of creative trouble.

"Sorry… line was a bitch." Klaus said, finally reappearing and allowing Ben to relax. His brother sat back down, pushing over a bowl of ice cream towards Ben and keeping the other for himself. Ben looked down at the pistachio dessert.

"Shiiiiiit." Ben smiled. This used to be his favorite before he… you know. "Best date ever."

"Only date ever. Oh my goodness, I'm you're first!" Klaus joked cheerily, resting his chin on his hands and staring over at Ben with puppy dog eyes. Ben smirked and took a bite of ice cream.

Just as good as he remembered.

They snacked on their iced treats through the rest of the sets until the band went on break. Klaus started talking about something regarding  _The Big Lebowski_ but honestly, Ben wasn't really listening because that's when he noticed them- the deep burn marks poking out from underneath his jacket sleeve.

Yeah, there were markings all over Klaus that Ben had picked up on earlier in the night. Rope burn on his wrists, light bruises around his collarbone, nail scratching starting on his shoulder and no doubt stretching down the length of his back. Those were small things that Ben could ignore though. Klaus had always liked "rough fun" and it had never been a problem past some harmless pain here and there.

This though… These burns?

Holy shit.

Klaus must've subconsciously felt Ben staring because as he rambled about movies, he pulled his sleeves down over the pink/yellow tear in his flesh. If the sight of that wasn't enough, Ben started noticing other things now that he was keener to them. The way Klaus had his legs crossed as he sat, Ben had a clear line of sight to the side of his raised leg. Through the crisscrossing of the leather siding, he could see that there was a flesh-colored bandage wrapped tightly around his leg right above the knee.

Harder to catch but definitely present, Six realized that if he looked close enough, it seemed like there was a thin layer of film or something on Klaus's face and neck. Trying not to be obvious about his observation, Ben squinted just barely and realized it was makeup- cover-up, or whatever it's called. Underneath, there were tones of purple and blues that he attempted to conceal.

"…which was just a ridiculous way of saying it, really-"

"Are you wearing makeup?" Ben couldn't help but suddenly interrupt. Klaus stopped midsentence and looked away immediately, shrugging a shoulder and mindlessly turning his eyes down to stir what was left of his soupy ice cream.

"I'm always wearing makeup.  _Anyway…"_

And then he launched back into his rant that admittedly, Ben was no longer paying attention to.

Well, he wasn't wrong, but Ben recognized that Klaus knew full-well that he didn't mean his eyeliner. Sneaky bastard.

"…so really, it's pretty obvious that "The Dude" is nothing like Shrek and never will be and can you stop?"

Ben was torn from his deep swirling thoughts at Klaus's sudden accusation ever-so-casually mixed in with the end of his debate. Ben raised his eyebrows at his brother and tried to play it off.

"…what?"

"Looking at me like that. Judgy. You're being judgy again."

Ben sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

"Let's not do this right now." And he meant it. For sure, he was bothered, but they were having a nice time and he didn't want to be the one to ruin that. If that meant biting his tongue until they got home, so be it.

"Fine. Whatever." Klaus mumbled, fishing into his pocket and pulling out another cigarette. Ben sighed.

"Why don't we go outside?"

"Ugh. Not you too."

"Klaus."

" _Fiiiiiiine_."

Outside against the exterior wall of the establishment, Klaus smoked his cigarette and gazed down the alleyway mindlessly, refusing eye contact or even the recognition of his brother who stood with his arms crossed beside him. Ever since they got into the fresh air, not a word was spoken. Ben felt like this was probably a good enough time as any.

Reluctantly, he sucked a breath in.

"I just can sense that there's something up and you're not telling me. I'm just worried about you, dude."

"You're going off of a  _sense_?" Klaus already shot back, obviously ready to retort quickly even if it seemed like he was far off in thought. He was ready for this, defenses up. It wouldn't be easy.

"You don't think after 17 years I can tell?"

Klaus shrugged and flicked some ash to the ground. He didn't answer. Ben pressed his lips together before trying again.

"I… I don't know. I feel like I'm everyone else. Everyone that I watched you push away all these years. Just because I'm living doesn't mean I can't be there-"

"It's clearly going to be different, Ben. You know, you can't live through me anymore. You're free. Go have your own life. Just because I don't share  _every_ little-"

"So, you're not denying something's up?"

"I'm  _fine_!" Klaus threw out his arms and finally turned to Ben, making eye contact. As he did, Ben could instantly tell it was a lie. After communicating so often just by gazes ever since they were old enough to walk, Ben could read him pretty damn quickly. "How have I been acting otherwise? I've been great. Superb." Klaus turned away again, wrapping one arm around his waist and propping up the other to take a quickly smoke.

"That's what I'm worried about. You're Klaus. You're never this 'okay'."

Klaus scoffed and shook his head.

"So, what? You don't trust me?"

"I just  _know_ you! Klaus. Klaus…" Ben grabbed his bicep and gently turned his brother to look at him again. He tried to soften up, remembering his true objective here despite how stubborn Four was. Ben truly was just concerned. "I'm here for you. I know staying sober isn't easy."

Klaus didn't say anything. He pressed the cigarette to his lips and looked away. Ben felt a pang rip through his chest.

"…you are sober, right?"

"Yes! Christ, Ben."

"Okay, okay. I believe you."

Despite what he said, Ben did have a small flicker of doubt. In fact, now that the thought crossed his mind, he did realize that Klaus had stopped his mindless jittering. His hand was steady, his eyes both focused and far off but not quickly darting like earlier. It could just be the cigarette that was relaxing him.

Let's hope.

They ended up walking home after that per Klaus's request. He was claimed to be tired, but Ben knew it was a way to get himself out of more possible conversation. It didn't quite go like that. What else were they supposed to talk about the whole way back? The topic stayed on Klaus's wellbeing and he increasingly wasn't having it.

"I feel so separated! Like you're digging a deeper and deeper trench between us until you go off somewhere and something happens and you never come back."

"What do you mean,  _separated?_ We're hanging out right now! And I'm not  _that_ destructive."

"You know what I mean and yes, you kinda are."

"I know people joke about it, but we're not actually dating, love."

They walked through the Academy doors. Things were starting to get a little more heated then Ben would've liked.

"Why are you acting like it's so insane for me to be worried? You disappear every night which, fine, whatever. I know I don't have to be with you at all times anymore and that's great. I'm glad you have some time to yourself except not when it's with strangers who just want to break your body for their own fun-"

"This again? Seriously, you need some new content. It's my fun too!"

" _This-_ " Ben rushed forward and yanked up Klaus's sleeve revealing the deep burns. God, they were even worse than he originally thought. At the very least, second-degree. What the fuck where they doing to him? "This is  _fun_? Klaus, I-"

Ben's words caught in his throat. His chest tightened. When he went to pull up Klaus's sleeve, he had raised it enough to reach above his elbow, revealing the crook where three tiny red bumps stared up at Number Six. Quickly, Klaus yanked his arm away.

"Hands off, touchy."

"Klaus," Ben stated, suddenly on a  _very_ different mission from before. He squared himself in front of his brother, gripping his shoulder and looking up in his eyes while drilling the deepest holes he could. "Klaus, tell me honestly  _right now_. Are you back on drugs?"

Klaus's face hardened and he shoved Ben in the chest. Ben was ready for that though and just lunged forward again, going for Klaus's jacket pocket. From there, things got a little physical.

Klaus tried to shove him away. Ben swatted his hands away. Klaus shoved again. They got into a frantic tangle of pushing and pulling arms until Ben finally forced his way past Klaus's defenses and reached his pocket.

His hand closed around a small plastic bag.

_Fuck, please no…_

Ben brought back not only pills but a small baggie of coke too.

Everything froze. Klaus stared at him. Ben stared back.

Klaus broke the tension and lunged forward, reaching for the drugs.

"Ben!"

"What the fuck, Klaus?"

Ben dodged Klaus's advancements and took quick steps backward, still in awe and not sure what to even say at this point. This was exactly the point he was hoping he wouldn't let his brother get to.

"Give them back!"

Wait a minute… He had asked  _multiple_ times…

"You fucking lied to me!" Ben realized, running to the other side of the couch to get away from Klaus grabbing hands. Klaus rushed around one side faster than he was expecting though. All Ben could do was run by the coffee table and pick up a book, swinging it at the arms stretched towards the confiscated drugs.

"Oh, go cry about it."

"Fuck. You. Straight to my face!  _Multiple_ times!" Ben yelled as he took two more swings now just out of anger, hitting Klaus a couple of times in the chest. His brother shoved Ben back harder and he nearly stumbled to the ground.

"Hey!" A new voice appeared from the second-floor balcony. "Guys, calm down." Allison voiced, appearing from her room following the rise of commotion. Ben and Klaus were too far gone into their feud though. Shoving turned into hitting, Klaus getting a pretty good slam of his fist into Ben's abdomen. Number Six doubled over and coughed, feeling the drugs ripped from his hands in his moment of weakness.

"Shit! Klaus-" He wheezed, grabbing his brother's shirt collar and yanking him back. Klaus swung at him again but Ben grabbed his arm in time to twist, causing his brother to yelp.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Diego's voice sounded, followed by footsteps running up from the basement.

"Get off me!"

"Drop them!"

"Fuck off and mind your own business!"

Klaus shoved his shoulder into Ben's chest and Ben launched forward, very uncharacteristically intent on doing whatever he needed to in order to get those drugs back. He knew Klaus would just go get his hands on new ones, but now the whole situation was pissing him off and it was a point to prove more than anything.

They shoved at each other, each one trying to get a good shot for a punch or jab in, but suddenly Ben felt firm hands yanking back on his biceps.

"Enough!" Diego shouted from behind him.

Five suddenly materialized high up in the air right about Klaus, falling and landing on his back and wrapping all of his limbs around Four's body to constrain him. To finish it all off, Luther rushed in the room and stood between them while holding his arms out- a massive dividing wall between the fighting.

Ben struggled against Diego's hold until he realized he really wasn't going anywhere. He relaxed and Number Two hesitantly let go. Ben was left breathing hard, his hair disheveled and his fists balled tightly.

"What the fuck, guys?" Diego asked, taking a step back and frowning at them.

"You're supposed to be the ones I  _don't_ have to worry about killing each other." Allison said, walking into the room and crossing her arms, disappointed. Vanya entered too, looking just as upset.

"None of your beeswax." Klaus grunted, shoving Five off of his back and straightening, combing out his hair with his fingers after he subtly replaced the drugs back into his pocket. Ben gritted his teeth together and shook his head.

"You made it our 'beeswax'. What's gotten into you guys?"

Ben and Klaus connected gazes.

 _Don't you dare._ Klaus's said.

 _Fine. I fucking won't. It's on you._ Ben's said. The rest of the siblings looked between them, obviously not in on their eye-sight conversation. But then, Luther spoke up hesitantly.

"Are you on drugs again?"

"Nice,  _Ben_." Klaus immediately answered, rolling his eyes and turning away in resigned frustration.

"I didn't say anything!"

"Your eyes did the talking."

"Oh, fuck off. This is on you. Like they wouldn't find out."

Klaus turned on his heal and suddenly advanced towards Ben stiffly. Five and Luther stepped into his path, making him stop abruptly. He still spoke his mind, looking over their shoulders at Ben.

"I'm  _so sorry_ that I can't be like perfect Number Six."

"Who's asking for that? Is it too much to just wish that you'd stop self-destructing every five fucking seconds?"

"You're such a needy girlfriend, my  _God."_

"You're so unbelievably selfish!"

"Oh really, Ben? Because I'm pretty sure I released you from the duty of-"

"It's not about me feeling in debt to-"

" _THIS IS MY FUCKING LIFE-"_

Klaus shoved past Five and caught Luther off guard, weaving around him to get in Ben's face. Six came straight back, shoving him in the chest. Klaus shoved back harder.

" _YOU WON'T HAVE ONE IF YOU KEEP-"_

Ben grabbed the book from the floor and hurled it at Klaus's head. Number Four barely ducked it and came at Ben, but they were getting loud. And as of recently, when things got loud…

That's when Number Seven stepped in.

Before Ben knew what was happened, his back slammed against one of the pillars. He slid to the floor and groaned, holding the back of his head. He looked up to see Klaus in a similar position on the opposite side of the room, groaning in a crumpled heap on the floor.

" _Stop!_ " Vanya yelled, holding her hands out in front of her following her exertion of power that shot them across the room in opposite directions. "You're just being Diego and Luther now!"

"Ouch." Diego muttered.

Klaus angrily stood, looking straight at Ben and frantically searching his pocket until he came back with the baggie of pills. He defiantly opened them, pouring four onto the palm of his hand and popping them in his mouth aggressively.

Ben sighed, looking at Klaus, unamused.

"Four will kill you, dumbass."

Klaus didn't swallow, seeming to realize that Ben was right. He kept the pills in his mouth and tried to play it off, cocking an eyebrow.

"Maybeeeee that's what I wanted." Klaus said unconvincingly through a mouthful of pills. Ben rolled his eyes. This stubborn little shit.

"Spit it out."

Klaus held out his palm and spit out two of the pills before swallowing.

"I knew that."

"Uh-huh."

Klaus stalked off after that, shoving past Diego and climbing the stairs until they heard the slam of his bedroom door.

And that was that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this took a little while. Got sick and that put me in a weird funk.
> 
> Guys. Do you follow Justin Min on anything because if you don't, GO DO THAT. He's recently been posting the very first videos of the cast back together for the filming of the second season! Robert's been in a video, there's one of Cassie, there's one of Justin getting his "Ben" hair done... Bless you, Justin Min. You're keeping us alive over here.
> 
> https://twitter.com/UmbrellaAcad/status/1097570179259817989
> 
> Along with this video that I keep watching on repeat ^


	4. Just Not Today

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of the end.

Coffee was certainly an acquired taste. Klaus has been pouring Ben a cup for nearly 13 years now, but he hadn't actually been drinking it. He let Klaus amuse himself though.

Now that he had the sense of taste back though, he felt like he had to at least pretend to like it as an adult. He'd admit- the caffeine was great, especially for the "superhero" lifestyle he was currently living in, but without the cup being half-filled with creamer, that was some bitter-ass stuff right there.

Five downed his third cup.

_Christ._

"I just wish I didn't still smell it…" Five mumbled, setting down his newly-empty cup. Vanya and Ben frowned at him.

"What?" Vanya asked cautiously. Five clicked his tongue and looked aside in dismay.

"Decaying bodies."

_Yikes._

Vanya, Five and Ben had been getting along pretty well lately. Ben realized early on that they had a great deal in common. As far as new life changes went, each one of them was affected pretty dramatically each in their own way:

Ben was alive after years of being dead.

Five was returned to a "normal-ish" life following a lifetime alone in the Apocalypse.

Vanya found out her entire life of ordinary-ism was a total lie and destroyed the planet in the process.

To say the least, between the three of them, they had plenty to talk about.

"Five… I was serious about seeing someone. It could help." Vanya pushed, putting a tentative hand on his arm. Five sighed.

"And tell them what? I'm a 58-year-old man stuck in a 13-year-old body who has survived an eternity in the apocalypse?"

Vanya and Ben exchanged glances. Yeah… they could tell where he was coming from.

"Alright, well… We're here then."

"Whenever you need us, dude." Ben added, taking another hesitant sip of coffee. Five nodded. The ambiance of the coffee shop drifted in as their conversation faded out, leaving them to sit on everything Five had just loaded onto them about dealing with life post-Apocalypse world.

Ben's mind eventually started wandering. He couldn't help it drifting to his fight with Klaus yesterday. He couldn't get it off of his mind. Not the actual fight… they fought and bickered rather often. Not that much, to be fair, but still.

It was the drugs. The thought of his brother back on drugs plagued his thoughts ever since the bomb was dropped. He felt like he lost him the second he saw the track marks on his arms. Ever since losing his ghostly hold on Klaus, he could barely keep track of the guy  _sober_. Now that he was diving straight back into heroine, molly, and who knows what else… Ben felt like it could only get worse from there.

Luckily, him and Klaus were no longer at such violent odds as they were yesterday. They did have a moment later that evening…

* * *

_**Knock. Knock. Knock.** _

_Ben blew disappointed air out of his nose and shook his head. This was ridiculous. He thought Klaus would've given up five minutes ago at least, but here he was… Fifteen minutes into incessantly knocking on Ben's door and waiting for him to give in and open up._

_He didn't want to see Klaus though. After all, Klaus was the one who had ultimately stormed off like the ultra-diva he was. That was on him, not Ben._

_Finally, there was a lull. No knocks. Ben perked up from his place on the floor where he was spread out with books about quantum physics and space-time continuums. He was trying his best to learn what he could from Five, but it was a pain in the ass._

_Hmm… He guessed Klaus had reached his peaking point. Thank the lord._

_Just as Ben thought he was safe, a BANG scared the living daylights out of him. He jumped and turned his wide eyes to his window that was being shoved open from the outside. His instincts took over and he jumped to his feet in order to prepare himself for whatever the hell was about to follow, but he soon relaxed._

_Klaus was literally being birthed from the window and onto his bedroom floor, his train wreck of a brother grunting and spilling his jumbled limbs on the ground. Ben closed his eyes and shook his head. He tried so damn hard to push down the slight curl-up of his lips, but it proved to be too hard._

_When he settled, Klaus looked up at Ben from the floor with sparkling eyes. He blinked a few times before gaining his bearings and sitting up clumsily._

" _Fuck, you didn't make that easy, did you?" He breathed, looking up at where he had just wiggled inside from._

_Ben rolled his eyes and hooked his arms underneath Klaus's, helping him to his feet. Klaus stumbled a bit but found his stance. It was wavering though._

" _Are you high?" Ben asked flatly, watching Klaus turn to face him with big eyes._

" _Should I leave?" Klaus asked genuinely, pointing to the open window. Ben's face slackened while pushing past his drugged-out sibling to close his make-shift entrance point._

" _Nooo…" Ben sighed, going back to his place on the floor with his back against the bookshelves lining his bedroom walls. Klaus stood there for a second, not sure what to do from there. Ben wasn't going to cater to his neediness. If he had something to say, he could say it._

_Klaus took a staggering step over, seating himself right next to Ben so their shoulders were pressed against each other. Ben stopped pretending to be engrossed in his research and looked forward instead, stewing in the heavy atmosphere. They both did._

" _We_ _ **were**_   _like Diego and Luther today, you know." Ben spoke up._

" _Gross."_

" _Yeah," Ben nodded, a small chuckle escaping his lips. It faded fast as he turned to look at the way Klaus mindlessly circled his finger over his knee. He didn't know what his brother was on currently, but he seemed dazed-out as hell. "So… you just gonna be high from now on? For the rest of your life?" Ben asked, although without any hint of his high-energy anger from before. He was just tired. Tired and wanting straight forward answers, no matter how disappointing they were._

" _Naaaahhh… Not_ _ **forever**_ _. Someday I'll, you know… Get back on track." Klaus mumbled, shifting to fish around in his jacket pocket. He pulled out a little baggie, opening it and fingering around for a couple pills that landed in his palm. "Just not today." He chuckled, moving his hand up to his mouth._

_Ben slapped it and the pills went flying out of sight._

" _At least have the decency to not do it in front of me." Ben said before Klaus could get too butt hurt about Ben's block-move. Klaus's tense presence softened and he stuffed the bag back into his pocket. He could feel his brother relax beside him like his muscles gave up. Number Four's head gently fell on Ben's shoulder quietly._

_Ben couldn't help but chuckle._

" _What?" Klaus asked in a small voice, unmoving against his shoulder._

" _Sometimes you're so predictable, you know that?"_

" _No need to be offensive." He said, obviously not actually offended. Ben went on._

" _Your 'fix everything with Klaus cuddles' mentality."_

_Klaus giggled and pulled out a cigarette which Ben casually took from his hand, tossing it in his waste bin. He didn't need to say anything for Klaus to know that there was no smoking in his own bedroom, for God's sake. Klaus didn't resist._

" _How the hell are you paying for all of this, by the way? It's not like you're exactly overflowing with cash at the moment. Or any moment."_

_Klaus shrugged. That was_ _**not** _ _the answer he was looking for._

" _Have you been selling stuff from the house again?"_

_Klaus sighed._

" _Mmm… Most of it has already been cleaned out."_

" _So… what, then?"_

_Klaus didn't answer. He nervously picked at the tear in his jeans before Ben made a horrible realization._

" _Klaus… you aren't exchanging sex for drugs again, are you?"_

_Silence._

" _You've got to be kidding me."_

" _Only once! Only once."_

" _So far! What happens when you need more?"_

" _Iiiii… borrow from Diego."_

" _Pfft. Right. Do you have absolutely zero respect for yourself?"_

_A moment went by._

" _I can't live your life for you." Ben resigned, saying it more as a realization for him. Klaus shifted his head to look up at Ben's stoic face for a second, soon returning it to his shoulder. Ben felt Klaus shrug._

" _Sorry, Benji." He agreed._

* * *

Suddenly he was aware of eyes on him. Ben pulled himself away from yesterday's memory and back to the reality of the coffee shop where his siblings stared expectantly. Ben looked to each of them, a confused smile spreading across his face.

"What?"

"Vanya already had sharing time and I just told you I still smell decaying bodies… You've gotta top that." Five joked, thanking the waitress for pouring him another cup. Ben smirked and shook his head.

"With what? Not sure what to say."

"I mean… 17 years with Klaus. How was that? You've gotta have stories." Vanya added. Oh yes… Stories, he had.

"Ah, yeah…" Ben said hesitantly, not knowing where to start. He leaned back in his seat and scanned his brain, trying to pick out how he felt. He was still trying to figure that out. He had regained life a while ago, but the adjustment period for a phenomenon like that wasn't a quick one.

"It was frustrating for sure. Half the time I wanted to kick the shit out of him for every stupid or self-destructive thing he did… every needle… every pill he shoveled down his throat. That's not to say it wasn't fun too. I mean… if I was going to say 'fuck it' and go crazy after death since nothing really matters from there, I'm glad it was with Klaus because he lives that way regardless."

Vanya chuckled and nodded, Five raising his eyebrows in agreement.

"And he was sweet about the whole thing. He really was. He so willingly shared his entire life with me. Suddenly, nothing was just his decision anymore- he split it with me too. He made sure I lived as much as I could through him."

Ben's chest tightened as he said it. He had already appreciated that of Klaus but never had he ever said it out loud. Maybe he should've. He definitely should now.

"…in return, I took care of his dumbass." Ben chuckled, lightening the mood a bit. But he couldn't help but bring it back down. He had never had anyone to talk to about this stuff… He never had anyone else but Klaus to talk to period. "I always had the option to move on. It was this… inexplicable feeling of something else waiting for me if I wanted it… 'the other side', I guess. What it was, I don't know. I never took the opportunity though. I never told him."

Five and Vanya were silent, their eyes locked on Number Six. He didn't need them to react. Just saying it out loud was enough.

* * *

As soon as the Numbers 5 through 7 returned to the Academy, Allison found Ben. Before she even opened her mouth, he could tell something was up.

"Klaus has been waiting outside your door for like, two hours."

"What? Why?" Ben immediately starting towards the stairs to the second floor, Allison falling in-step behind him.

"I don't know. He seemed upset about something. He wouldn't talk to me, he only wanted you."

Ben swore under his breath. His brother was finally coming to open up and he wasn't there.

_Please still be here, please still be here…_

He wasn't. The hallway outside Ben's room was empty. Number Six rushed to Klaus's room, looking in: Empty.

He missed his window. What if this pushed Klaus further away? What if this was his only chance before he lost him to his lonely self-destruction?

_Shit!_

"Can you drive me to go looking for him?"

Allison gave him a guilty frown.

"I would, but Luther and I are leaving for the airport. We're going to visit Claire for the weekend, remember?"

"Have you seen Diego?"

"He's out following some police lead. You might be able to catch him later tonight."

And Ben knew Vanya was already off to orchestra practice…

So, Five it is.

Except…

"Sorry. If I don't go get these samples now, it could mean missing an anomaly occurrence. I should be back in a couple of hours."

" _Hours_?"

"I've got to jump all the way to Latvia! It takes time to recharge for that kind of thing."

Ben sighed and turned on his heel, leaving Five to his preparations in his room. So he was on his own without a car.

Great.

Setting out against the dusky skies, Ben started on the edge of town and made his way through on foot. Usually, he wouldn't go through this much effort, but something felt off. He couldn't explain it. Yes, the fact that Klaus had waited outside his room for literally two hours made him worried, but it was more than that even. A pit sat in his stomach and constantly reminded him that something truly terrible was going to happen tonight.

The areas that made the most sense to check (based on the past decade with Klaus) were also the sketchiest. Before, Ben never had a problem waltzing around the alleyways and dark corners where Klaus's dealers and loose confidants lurked… He was already dead and invisible to everyone- basically invincible.

Now though, Ben was very visible, very tangible, and very out of place. Everywhere he searched, he felt eyes followed him.

When he felt particularly brave, he'd reach out to people on the corner. Anyone who looked remotely familiar or in any way like a drug dealer, he forced himself to approach. After about a dozen questionings, he was starting to get irritated. Either no one had actually seen Klaus, or they all were preserving their "customer confidentiality". For all they were, no one could deny that drug dealers were usually pretty damn, annoyingly loyal.

"Yeah." Ben finally got a taker. "Yeah, he was here."

"Did he buy something? Do you know where he was going?" Ben frantically pressed, sparked by his first real lead of the night as sky reached peak darkness.

"How much?" The shady figure asked.

"Wh- What-"

"Look, buddy. If you came here for free services, then you're in the wrong place."

Ben sighed and rolled his eyes, reaching into his jacket pocket for his wallet. He pulled out a fifty and forked it over. The guy took it, cocking his head to the side. Ben shook his head disapprovingly.

"Seriously?"

The guy's look was answer enough. Ben pulled out another fifty and handed it over. He said a little prayer of thanks to Allison who had pulled him aside and insisted on lending him some cash seeing as newly-alive people didn't really have a previous source of income.

"He bought some MDA. Said he was taking it to some joint to meet a 'Kip'."

Shit…

Kip was a guy Klaus went to meet up with every once and again… the guy was notorious for being pretty fucking intense in all regards. Ben didn't like him one bit. Four would only seek out the 'old friend' when he was feeling particularly down or in need of a big-time distraction. This dude was into some messed up shit and on top of it, Ben hated how he treated Klaus. He had no regard for his brother whatsoever, not that that's why Klaus sought him out. Still though… the state Klaus would come back in after a night with this guy always made Ben's blood boil.

"Thanks." Ben awkwardly told the dealer. He already knew where to find him.

The "joint" was a shabby but fairly large house on the edge of town that was always leaking colored lights and thumping music. Ben could feel the bass in his chest before he could even see the building. When he arrived, the door was open but the room inside was full of people. So… could he just… walk in?

Ben did, as uncomfortable and vulnerable as it made him feel.

"Uh… Excuse me." He muttered, wiggling his way through sweaty bodies that were either swaying to the music or swaying just because their minds were that far gone.

Basement… Basement… Ben always remembered there being a basement…

He made his way down the stairs into the dark cellar that was only illuminated by a few dimly lit green bulbs screwed into the ceiling. A hoard of people was gathered in the corner around a bar, all of them turning to look at Ben as he entered.

Another guy made himself known from behind Ben. He hadn't even realized he was followed down the steps.

"Uh… I'm looking for my brother."

"What?" One woman asked over the pulsating music. Ben cleared his throat nervously.

"My- My brother! Klaus Hargreeves? He, uh- he knows Kit!"

"You lookin' to meet with Kit?" A man yelled back.

"No, no… Not particularly." Ben waved his arms in front of him, dismissing that idea as fast as possible. "Only if he knows where Klaus is!"

Someone stood up from the table, their silhouette making their way over to Ben. This dude was  _big_. Ben clenched his jaw and held his ground, not wanting to seem too much like a pussy for backing up just at the sight of this guy approaching.

"Look- Kit ain't here right now and we don't really like newcomers."

"I'm- I'm  _just_ looking for- Look, if Klaus isn't here, I'll just-" Ben turned right into another guys chest, preventing him from leaving.

_Oh, come on…_

"Why haven't I ever heard of this 'Klaus' guy?"

"He's not… a regular. And if he's not here, I'll-"

"'Cause if this is all some story as a cover-"

"What?" Ben immediately cut in, turning to face the green-lit features of the tall, built, accusing man only a foot in front of him. "Why would I-"

"You one of Marlin's guys?"

"I don't know who Marlin is!"

Ben started mapping out plans in his head as he was taught to do when tensions like this rose. He did a silent head count of the shadows of people who sat watching him menacingly from the corner. Including these two guys who were sandwiching him at the moment, there were seven.

Ben was trained pretty well, but not nearly  _that_ well. He couldn't take on all of these people if it came down to it. Maybe his "tummy beast" as Klaus called it could, but he was not about to get arrested for gruesome first-degree murder tonight.

"Exactly what a Marlin man would say." Some guy from the table said, a chorus of low laughter following.

"Can't be too careful these days," Big-guy said, reaching a slow but authoritative hand towards Ben's shoulder. He instinctively hit it away, grounding his feet, preparing for a potential fight.

 _Ugh._   _F_ _uck me… Here we go._ Ben complained in his head.

"Don't touch me." He said out loud, earning a cock of the eyebrow from the not-so-gentle giant.

"Feisty little thing." The man grumbled, grabbing the front of Ben's shirt in a flash and yanking him closer before Six could do anything to stop it. "Don't you dare tell-"

The guy was going to get in some threatening dialogue, but Ben's instincts kicked in once again. He gripped the guy's wrist and twisted, nearly bringing the man to his knee.

Shit.

This  _instantly_ sparked motion from everyone else around the room, like an act of war. The guy behind him grabbed for Ben's arms but he swung his elbow back first, clocking the guy in the face. People rushed up from the table but the giant took a swing first, landing a blow right in Ben's stomach and making him double over in pain.

_FUCK, that hurt._

Ben tried to straighten and ready himself for what was next, but in his head, he knew this was over. Unless he wanted to sprout tentacles (which he certainly didn't), tonight would not end in anything short of a lot of cuts and bruises.

A grunt sounded from behind Ben. He turned just in time to see the guy that he just elbowed as he fully dropped to ground. Someone else hit him  _hard_ : The dark figure of the culprit flashed past him on his right. The mystery-dude punched the giant right in the face, taking no time to take on the guy approaching right behind.

Ben squinted in the darkness, still holding his stomach in pain. He realized who it was.

Boy, was he lucky tonight.

Diego kneed the next guy in the gut while taking a swinging punch to the side of another's head. The knives came out, one appearing in someone's leg, another in someone's shoulder. Diego elbowed some woman in the face and dodged the blow of some kid that looked no older than 18. Diego took a knife and gave him a good slice on his grabbing hand. The kid reared back and so did everyone else.

"What the fuck-"

"Who the hell-"

Confused protests arose around the room. Diego turned and grabbed Ben's bicep, quite literally dragging him back upstairs.

"Let's go." Two said authoritatively. Ben didn't need to be told twice.

"What are you doing here?" Ben wheezed when they broke into the beautiful, fresh air. Six coughed, trying to get back some of the air that was knocked from his lungs. Diego put a hand on his back and rubbed him through his hoodie.

"You okay, bro?"

Ben nodded, taking in a shaky breath before fully straightening against the tight pain.

"And I'm looking for you."

"For me?" Ben asked, voice still a bit strained as they got in Diego's car that was parked on the street.

"Yeah. Allison and Luther's flight was delayed so they called me to come pick them up from the airport. She told me you went out looking for Klaus. You can't do that alone, dude. You'll get yourself killed. Especially with some of the places that dumbass hangs around?"

"Why didn't Allie and Luther just wait at the airport?"

"They're not gonna go anymore."

"Why not?"

"Something about Allison not feeling right about the last time she saw Klaus. Couldn't take her mind off it. They wanted to stay behind and help look."

Ben felt a sigh of relief ripple through him. So, it  _wasn't_ just him… he  _wasn't_ completely crazy. He was slightly horrified, but also glad that Allison felt it too.

"So… Where to next?" Ben asked. "There another place across town that-"

"Oh, we found him. Allison and Luther are already on their way."

Ben's heart skipped a beat.

"What! Where?"

"The hospital called the boxing ring when I was gone. I got the message when I got back. That was about... Eh, twenty minutes ago."

"Well- I- Is he okay, or-"

Diego sighed as he drove.

"They said he should be fine, but he was  _not_ found in great shape. He had a dangerous amount of drugs pumping through his system and bruising all over. They even said something about a fractured rib."

Ben shook his head and took a deep breath- as much as his abdomen would allow him. He had to wonder... was it Kip? Sex with someone else?

It could have also been just a plain ol' fight (which Klaus very believably could've gotten into with that mouth of his) or even a mugging of some sort. Ben had a feeling that unfortunately, it was probably first and most disturbing theory.

"What the hell are you doing, Klaus?" He muttered quietly to himself. At least they found him.

When they arrived at the hospital, Luther and Allison were already there, sitting in the waiting room. They rose to their feet just as Ben and Diego rushed in. They weren't the only ones though- Vanya and Five came out of nowhere, rushing in from a different hallway.

"How'd  _you_  guys get here?" Luther asked Numbers 5 and 7.

"Five picked me up after practice. Said he wanted to help look for Klaus."

"The anomaly was nothing. Came home early." Five shrugged. "Then when Diego didn't pick up, the hospital called Vanya as Klaus's second emergency contact."

"Well, how is he?" Ben pressed Allison and Luther. They exchanged glances. Uh-oh…

"They won't tell us anything. We've been trying to get information for ten minutes now."

"Hargreeves? Klaus Hargreeves?" A voice came from the giant, medical swinging doors. All six siblings turned to see a tentative nurse standing in the waiting room, looking at them with a gaze that Ben did  _not_ like.

"Yes?" Allison pressed. They all gravitated towards this nurse that had guilt written all over. Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit… Was he  _dead_?

"I'm so sorry… We, uh- We don't know where he went."

There was a moment's pause. Ben was pretty sure everyone was expecting the worst, but this was unexpected. It certainly wasn't  _good_  but it took a minute to process the shock.

"What do you mean?" Diego asked, accusingly.

"We came back to check on him and he was gone. Ripped out his IV and… Well, we've searched the hospital and have an alert out. We think he got out."

"Damnit." Ben threw up his hands in his hair, frustratingly running his fingers through. He could be anywhere… Literally anywhere that Ben  _just_ checked and anywhere that he didn't. He was already beaten up from the sounds of it, and if the hospital had forced the drugs from his system, he was probably  _not_ doing well in terms of incoming sobriety. When Klaus craved, he fucking  _craved_. He'd take as much as he could to fill the void, even if it may kill him. Often, it did. Ben was just waiting for the day where Klaus wasn't able to be brought back from one of his many OD's.

"Alright… Uh… If we split up, we'll cover more ground." Luther said tiredly, pinching the bridge of his nose.

They split back up into their groups: Allison/Luther, Diego/Ben, Five/Vanya.

You would've thought that six people with enhanced tracking skills and training would be able to cover some good ground and come up with something rather quickly… Well, they got leads. They got plenty of leads. The problem was that Klaus was moving so fast from one place to another that they could never pin him.

That also worried Ben further… His brother's patterns made him seem frantic… desperate. When Klaus got desperate, he got dangerous.

It was raining now- hard. Ben hoped Klaus was at least inside somewhere. The last thing he needed was dealing with drugged, injured,  _and_  pneumonia-ridden Klaus.

"He's gotta be running out of money, right?" Diego asked as they drove to another night club that Ben faintly remembered going to one night five years ago-  _anything_ was fair game at this point.

"Yeah, well…" Ben's voice trailed off. Shit… Shit, shit, shit…

"Shit."

"What?"

"I think I might know… Turn around. Turn around."

Diego did.

Ben suddenly remembered his conversation with Klaus in his bedroom.

" _Klaus… you aren't exchanging sex for drugs again, are you?"_

There was only one establishment that Ben knew of Klaus engaging in that type of low behavior. It was not a nice place in countless regards. The music blasted too loud to distinguish notes, no one ever even  _thought_ of cleaning the place, people were violent and drugged out of their minds, fights constantly broke out, police raids were frequent, sex was as casual as waving hello…

To put it in perspective, even Klaus tried to stay away. He only went a couple of times in the past when he was truly desperate for a fix. There were plenty of people happy to go into the business of trading some dope for ownership of Klaus's body for an hour or two.

Ben was  _seething_ the first time it had happened. That was the biggest fight he and Klaus had ever had if he remembered correctly. Ultimately, Ben had won after a week of the behavior, Klaus agreeing that "even he" respected himself more than that.

God, why hadn't he remembered this sooner?

As Diego sped down the road towards the shabbier part of town, they passed Allison and Luther's car. They slowed to a stop and rolled down their window. Diego did the same.

"Follow us. No time to explain." Diego shouted. Luther looked perplexed but nodded. He did a 180 in Dad's car and followed right behind Ben and Diego.

The building was just as terrible and intimidating as Ben remembered. Maybe even worse in the rain- the asphalt that surrounded the place was slick and shiny and distorted the chaotic atmosphere even further.

He didn't have time to take in the grimy details though- his mind was set on finding Klaus as fast as possible, that is, if he was even here.

"Stay close to me," Diego told him as they pushed through a crowd of grinding people that were losing their minds to the live racket being played. Ben only saw them as obstacles at this point. His heart was beating faster and faster as his mind flickered awful images of the possible states he could be finding Klaus in at any second. Six shoved humans aside. They just went back to dancing or fucking though. No one was in any frame of mind here.

"Search upstairs. We've got down." Luther called out over the noise, ever the leader. No one argued. Not now.

Ten minutes after seeing some  _weird ass shit_ that Ben never could've even imagined if he tried (as if he'd ever want to) they decided that Klaus was in fact  _not_ in the establishment. Ben wasn't sure if that relieved or worried him more.

"Let's split up again. You guys hit some of the smaller dive bars and Allison and I will run home to see if he came back while we were all out."

"Okay, well maybe grab the pagers from Pogo if they're ready to go. If one of us finds him, we can send out a signal-"

Ben's siblings continued to yell plans over the obnoxious noise. Ben was distracted though. He got this eerie tingle that rippled up his spine. He couldn't tell where it came from or what exactly it was, but he wrapped it up to pure instinct.

Something was off. Something was here.

He walked away from the crowd out front of the building, slowly making his way apart from his siblings. They kept talking. Every step Ben took towards the alleyway between the club (or whatever you called this hellhole) and the closed pawn shop next door just made the pit sit stronger and heavier in his stomach. Suddenly, he was terrified of continuing forward but Ben couldn't stop. It was like he wasn't in control of his body anymore.

The alley between the buildings was dark. There was some guy fucking a girl up against the wall on the corner. They scurried to pull their pants up when Ben approached, shooting him dirty looks and scampering away through gathering puddles. Ben ignored them.

"Ben!" Diego's voice called from behind him. Ben ignored that too… because as of one single second ago, something else much more important took precedence as soon as he scanned his eyes down that alleyway.

Ben felt his stomach drop into his gut. He took a stuttering breath in before no more breath arrived at all. His heart beat in his head. Sickening heat rose to the tips of his ears. His throat closed achingly tight.

In a downpour of rain under the dull tungsten flicker of the streetlight nearby, Ben choked on his horrified, whispered words.

"Holy fuck."


	5. Human Heater

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The siblings find Klaus, but how much is actually left of him?

The past five minutes had passed Ben by so fast that his head literally spun. Maybe it was from the way Luther was driving too. The car yanked itself around a sharp corner, jolting everybody in their seats.

Ben was particularly worried about Diego's situation in the backseat behind Luther. Number 2 wasn't just trying to manage his balance for himself- he also had Klaus's broken, battered body protectively enclosed in his arms. Every time the car zoomed and lurched, Diego braced one arm against the door and one around Klaus's chest.

Allison had Number Four's legs stretched across her lap in the opposite side of the backseat. Her fingers consistently nervously tapped the leather of his pants, her eyes often flickering to her brother's nearly lifeless face with a sickening look of concern.

Let's do a quick overview, shall we?

Bruising. All over. It was like someone took black and blue watercolor paint and used Klaus's body as a canvas. Particularly the coloring under his right eye always caught Ben's unwilling attention.

His ribs were fractured. They knew this from what the hospital had told them, but Ben wasn't expecting his chest to have the faintest of unnatural misshapen bends to it. Maybe it was because Ben had been by Klaus's side for so long and the guy barely wore a shirt that he could so easily pick up on the fracture.

Definitely a newer development, his left hand/wrist was basically crushed. Contorted at a weird angle and covered in blood, Ben grimaced at the way it lied gingerly against Klaus's chest.

There was plenty of blood in other places too… The problem was, no one could really tell exactly where it was all coming from. They didn't have time to figure it out either. As soon as they noted the subtlest of breaths from Klaus's tattered chest, they knew they had to act fast to get him home because if the injuries weren't enough, Ben could recognize an overdose anywhere and Klaus was far gone.

They could've aimed for the hospital, but as Luther noted, the house was 3 minutes away and the hospital was nearly 15. In this state, every second of Klaus's time was precious. Ben didn't know what would steal his brother away from him first- the physical abuse, the overdose, or the fact that he's clearly been lying out in the cold rain for a while in such a condition.

* * *

_Ben gripped at the cold, wet collection of purely skin and bones. He could hardly call the body "Klaus" or even just simply a body at all at this point. There was nothing animate about him. Nothing colorful about him. He was so pale that his skin nearly glowed under the flickering streetlight, patched with black, blues, and reds every so often._

" _Klaus… Klaus!" Ben tried to call out to him, carefully lifting his brother's shoulders off of the glistening concrete of the alleyway. Klaus's face was lifted from underneath a shadow and into the dim light. Ben could see the glimmer of his irises underneath his heavy lids._

_**Shit, he's dead. He's dead. He's dead. He's…** _

_Klaus just barely groaned through slightly parted lips._

_**Not dead. He's not dead. He's not dead. He's not dead.** _

_His skin was so cold to the touch. His hair was soaked through, a mess of strands across his pale forehead. The fingers that were on the opposite hand to the one that was fucked up were trembling when Ben reached for them. He didn't know if it was from the cold or any other host of reasons that Klaus's body was shutting down. Whatever it was, it was clear that he had been out here in the rain for a while._

" _C'mon… Work with me, Klaus. Can you hear me?" Ben called, his voice breaking at the end of his sentence._

" _Is he okay?"_

" _Is he dead?"_

" _Diego!"_

" _We don't have time to sugar coat, Luther!"_

_Ben laid his brother up against the brick wall of the building, watching raindrops speckle Klaus's greyed skin, some of them sliding down and streaking the dirt and blood off of his body._

" _Klaus. Hey. Look at me."_

_Number Four's eyes were only open the tiniest sliver. He didn't even attempt to comply with Ben's request so Number Six gently touched his shaking fingertips directly underneath Klaus's eyebrow and shifted his eyelid up just barely to catch more of the whites of his eyes._

_Yep. Just what he was worried about._

" _He's overdosing. We need to get him help now." Ben instructed, thinking that he should just be used to seeing Klaus's eyes roll back into his head from drug overload at this point. A person didn't easily "get used" to something like that though. Especially not when his body also looked like someone had thrown him around like a rag doll before discarding him in this dark, goddamn alleyway._

_Ben had seen a lot of distrubing shit starting from a young age. At any point and time, he could conjure up images of his tentacle nightmare ripping human beings to shreds. That image wouldn't sit well with_ anyone,  _but expecially for Ben who knew that it was him that was causing such gruesome violence._

_Even after years of living with a murderous beast inside of him though, no image would even compare to the sight of his brother lying like this in a dark corner of the city. He never would've been able to imagine something like this in a million years. To think that he had seen Klaus as his usual vivacious, giggly self this morning just to somehow reach the complete and utter opposite twelve hours later..._

_This couldn't be Klaus- This was the embodiment of death, violently torn into the world of the living._

* * *

"Stop the car." Diego said. His voice was low and authoritative, but there was something else there that he was hiding underneath his smooth tones. There was fear. Ben turned in the car's passenger seat lightning fast.

It was dark, but it was clear that Klaus was still completely motionless. Within a few seconds, Ben coud tell he was even more stagnant than before though. Before, he could at least find solace in the steady up and down rhythm of his chest as his lungs did the work to prove Klaus was still, barely alive.

Now there was nothing.

_No, no, no, no…_

"What- Why-" Ben tried to find words, but Luther found his quicker.

"We're literally around the corner. Can-"

"Pull. Over. Now." Diego demanded, surprisingly keeping his voice down low still. His tone was enough to compensate though. Luther did as he was told and Diego popped his door open before the car even parked on the curb.

"Diego, what's-"

"Stay in here, Ben." He said, very carefully pulling a limp Klaus out of the car with him. Before the door was shut again, Ben saw Diego lay Four on the sidewalk and place hands above his chest. Luther gave Ben a regretful frown but then followed Diego out of the car, leaving the vehicle in aching silence.

_Stay in the car!? He didn't need Diego to protect him from… from… Is Klaus… Is he dead? Why else would Diego demand to pull over?_

Ben's rational mind knew that at this very second, Diego was trying to recussitate Klaus. If that was the case, just the part about him currently being dead wasn't computing with him. It wasn't until he heard the muffled pumps of Diego's hands on Klaus's chest that it all registered and hit him like a ton of bricks.

A stuttering breath ripped through Ben's chest and he dug his fingernails into his palms in attempts to distract from the overbearing pain in his chest and throat. Did he just lose his brother?

Arms slid around Ben's neck from behind. Allison gently hugged him from the backseat. She sniffled quietly. Just that validation that someone else was being emotionally affected by what Ben didn't want to accept was happening… Well, that was enough to finally let the tears sting his eyes, a few escaping down his cheeks. He refused to truly let himself go though, as if he thought that when he did, that sealed Klaus's fate for good.

No… Ben tried to hold in his panic and devastation the best he could so that it bottled up and swelled into a giant ball of emotions that expanded in his throat to the point where it was almost too painful to bear.

They'd have to cremate him because of how mangled his body was.

They'd have to turn off all of his bedroom light strands since no one would be using them anymore.

They'd have to do a press release since they had been back in the spotlight lately as if these random people in the public  _really_ cared or deserved to know that Klaus was gone.

They'd have to learn what life at the Academy was like without their light- their splash of color to their usually gloomy, gray attitudes. Yeah, he could be an incessant menace, but he was  _their_ incessant menace. No one would admit it before, but without Klaus's persistent need to lighten the mood, there would only be darkness in that house.

They'd admit it now.

The back door popped open. The pain in Ben's throat dissipated as his gaze snapped back again, Allison's arms unraveling from around him. Diego dropped back into his seat alone, but Luther helped slide Klaus's body back onto his lap from outside. Allison immediately helped, pulling her brother's legs back up to rest on her lap.

"What-"

"No time." Diego cut Ben off. That was a good sign. "Step on it." He continued once Luther got back into the driver's seat.

"Yep."

* * *

As soon as they pulled up to the Academy a minute later, Luther barreled out of the front seat to go around back and help Diego carry Klaus inside. As it turned out, whatever CPR attempts Diego had tried had worked, but who knew when Klaus would slip under again. With the overdose, the blood loss, the blunt force trauma, lying unconscious in nearly-freezing rain… Anything could take him at any second.

They managed to get him to Mom though, and from there, she had been in the medical room with him for an hour. Pogo was allowed in, but no one else was.

Ben spent all that time sitting in the living room, not sure what to do with himself. He just sat in his soaked clothes, staring at the wall. He felt like if he so much as moved, he'd set something in motion and Klaus would die. He knew it was unreasonable, but it was the only thing he had to hold onto. Otherwise, he felt completely helpless. Ben had to do  _something,_ even if that something was literally nothing.

People tried to talk to him. He gave one-word answers, but it was on autopilot. It was like Ben himself wasn't even talking or reacting- it was just an automated response. His siblings seemed to recognize that and let him have his moment… or lack of moment.

An hour in though, everything he pushed down came rushing up- both metaphorically and quite literally.

Ben ran to the nearest bathroom, doubling over the toilet and throwing up whatever remains of what he had eaten six hours ago. He gripped the edges of the toilet, his whole body shaking. He didn't have much to puke up, but that didn't stop his body from convulsing and gagging up air.

Trying his best to force the image of Klaus collapsed, more than half-dead on the street, Ben took a few deep breaths in without it being followed by gut-punching urges to throw up the nothing left in his stomach. That was progress at least.

Taking a shaky stance, Ben flushed and moved to the sink to wash his hands and use copious amounts of mouthwash. At least this forced him to move. He was starting to think he was just going to have to be a vegetable for the rest of his life.

As Ben was swishing around the minty liquid in his mouth, a figure appeared in the mirror behind him. Ben spit out the mouthwash and wiped his mouth, noting that it was Vanya in the doorway. She held some folded clothes in her hands.

"Sometimes being alive sucks," Ben muttered, putting the mouthwash bottle away. Vanya gave him a sad smile, her eyes completely devoid of life. She handed him the clothes and he realized they were his.

"Please change. We don't want you to get sick on top of everything else."

Ben took them and nodded. He wouldn't worry his siblings with any self-destructive urges… After all, isn't that exactly what he has been bugging Klaus about?

Well, he failed, obviously. If Ben had just tried harder, maybe this wouldn't have happened.

Before Number Six could get stuck in a cycle of "What if's" and "I should've's", Vanya stepped forward and enveloped him in her thin but comforting arms. Ben felt some of the tension in his back and shoulders relax. He didn't even notice that he had been holding his muscles hostage in such a tense clench.

The deep, rumbling clearing of a voice made Ben jump in Vanya's arms. She let go of him, turning so they were both looking at Luther who appeared in the doorway.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I- Uh- Mom said he's okay to see now, but one person at a time so we thought that you might want to go, Ben."

Ben's heart beat just a bit faster. That was good, right? He was okay now? Okay enough for visitors apparently. Was that it then? Could he finally stop picturing having to say goodbye to the dead body of his best friend?

"Uh… Okay. I'll change real quick."

* * *

"Go on. You can go up, just be gentle." Mom told Ben as he hesitantly entered the room to the sight of Klaus deposited on the bed they kept in the medical bay. The sheets weren't too far off from the color of his skin. The way he may as well have been part of the bed somehow made him frighteningly less vital, but the way those same sheets moved with his quiet, tiny breaths soothed the twisting in Ben's stomach.

He approached with caution, reaching Klaus's bedside and finally taking time to look at him in good lighting. Now that he was cleaned up, the colors of the bruises were even more apparent. He could see cuts that he hadn't seen before too. Cuts, scratches, bruises, breaks… You name it, this kid had it.

"Is he- How is he?" Ben asked, turning his eyes away from the broken Number Four and up to his mother who was cleaning up bloody bandages and daunting medical tools.

"He'll be okay. The worst of it was the broken rib and wrist but I reset everything and wrapped him up. He'll just be in quite a lot of pain for a couple of days and I won't be able to give him anything with how many drugs I'm already having to push from his system."

Ben nodded, taking a seat in the chair next to the bed. He put his hand on the bed next to Klaus's, still too timid to touch him.

"I'm working on getting the temperature up in here. I can't go  _too_ high though. He's got a nasty fever. The rain didn't help. Oh, I wish he wouldn't do these things to himself."

"Is that why he's shaking?" Ben asked, finally touching tentative fingertips to Klaus's exposed forearm.

"His body is still trying to warm up, yes. His body had to endure a lot though. It's still trying to process. It can cause some minor spasms and trembling. It'll fade."

Ben swallowed nervously and moved to carefully enclose Klaus's entire good-wrist in his hand, feeling his brother tremble underneath him. Klaus's skin was still freezing. He also took note that his hair hadn't quite fully dried yet.

A second or so after having his hand closed around Klaus's arm, that same arm stopped trembling and stilled. The rest of his body still shook slightly. Ben put his other hand to Klaus's neck, trying to dodge the many hickeys and flat out bruising there. As he did, he felt Klaus's skin warm underneath his touch. The small jittery breaths that ever-so-quietly escaped from Klaus's lips turned to calm, steady breathing patterns instead.

"If you're careful, you can sit with him." Mom's voice startled Ben out of his experimentation of trying to get Klaus to stop jittering. Six hadn't noticed that Mom was watching the whole thing, also taking interest in the way Klaus's goosebumps faded with the warmth of another human's touch.

"You sure I won't hurt him?" Ben asked, wanting to help but not wanting to be the reason Klaus slipped back into critical condition.

"He'll be okay. Go on. Here- just make sure he doesn't get  _too_  warm." Mom set a thermometer on the bedside table, giving Ben a small smile before returning to cleaning up.

Ben took a deep breath and eased himself out of his chair and to the opposite side of the bed. As cautiously as he could, Number Six slipped onto the cushioned surface, over the sheets and right up against Klaus. He could feel his brother's body just barely moving the mattress with his excessive shaking.

Slowly, Ben snaked a careful arm behind Klaus's propped-up back. Instantly, Number Four's body relaxed against the warmth of Ben's arm. Taking this as a good sign, Ben finally settled in with his back against the headboard, his other arm coming up to drape across Klaus's arms, trying to get the goosebumps to fade.

Ben Hargreeves… the human heater. Better than the Horror, he supposed.

"Dude, wake up. You'd be living for this… ah, the jokes. I'm basically the Jesse to your Bella. Or was it Jacob? I don't know, the wolf one. The one who played shark boy." Ben quietly talked to Klaus. While he did so, he tried to watch out for more trembling. It was too hard to keep his brother's whole body regulated though. If he moved to put a warm hand on Klaus's shoulder, then his torso would erupt into quaking pleads for warmth. If he moved to wrap his arm around his torso, his hand would start trembling all over again.

Ben smirked and pulled Klaus further into his chest, not even minding that his head slowly fell to Ben's shoulder, soaking through his shirt with his damp hair.

"Even unconscious you're a needy bitch." Ben joked with him as his goosebumps rose across the arm with the broken wrist. He pulled up the sheets around Klaus, trying to maintain the little control that Ben finally felt like he had to take initiative and ease some of his brother's pain.

"Come on… I won't be mad." Ben mumbled into Klaus's hair. "Not  _that_ mad." He corrected. If Klaus thought that he wouldn't get at least an earful for worrying Ben past the point of sanity, he was sorely mistaken, no matter how much physical pain he was in.

When Mom left, the siblings came to visit in waves. No one was all too surprised that Ben was quite literally holding Klaus together at this point. He already did that metaphorically 24/7 for however many years.

After Allison left, giving both unconscious-Klaus and Ben a gentle squeeze on the shoulder, Ben finally felt like he might be calmed down enough to let the late (or early) hour of the day affect him. It was nearly 4 AM and Ben had been on his feet all night, looking for this dumbass. Not to mention, experiencing your brother die could be  _quite_  emotionally tiring.

Ben tried to get Klaus to wake up one more time before his eyelids got heavy. Number Six lowered his head to the side, his cheek resting on the top of Klaus's lifeless head. The world got fuzzy. It didn't even matter that all kind of lights were on in the room. Ben's body seemed to decide it was time to sleep and he wouldn't deny it that any longer.

That was until a voice ripped him back to reality.

"I feel like utter shit."

Ben's eyes opened, sleepiness forgotten. He didn't move quite yet, trying to find the confidence that the voice was real and not a figment of his dreams. Klaus shifted slightly against his shoulder, groaning before stilling once again. That was all the confirmation he needed.

A small half-smile found its way to Ben's lips.

"Good."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Question for you guys: When Diego is tying Klaus up in "The Day That Wasn't" and they're talking and then Ben suddenly looks upset and leaves... Why did you think that was? I've seen multiple interpretations as to why Ben was upset, but I'm curious on your take.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Also, go enjoy Robbie's new movie "The Song of Sway Lake". I think I'll rent it tonight.


	6. Full Bentacle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben and Klaus hash it out.

God almighty, there was just so much  _pain_. Klaus loved a little rough play as much as the next guy, but this was past excessive. This was move-and-you-might-die kind of agony he was talking about. His first instinct upon opening his eyes to the bright but hazy setting was to stretch out, but he did everything in his power to fight that urge. He didn't even know if he had the physical capability right now.

Completely stagnant but more and more awake by the second, Number Four tried to put together some pieces but it was awfully hard when most of the "pieces" were missing. He tried to rack his brain for his most recent memories of what could've left him in the state, but all Klaus came up with was sitting outside of Ben's door for hours, waiting for him to come home from his coffee soiree with Vanya and Five.

Obviously, a lot has happened between then and now.

Speaking of Ben though,  _woah…_ There he was! Very close, actually. It took a minute for Klaus to gather his bearings and locate his own limbs, but he soon realized they were all wrapped up in Ben's. His head wasn't on a pillow either, it was on Ben's shoulder. Six's own head was resting on Klaus's. He assumed he was sleeping, or close to it.

A feeling of warmth swept over Klaus, and not just because it seemed like Ben was really the only thing keeping Klaus from freezing half-to-death at the moment. No, Klaus felt a wash of relief within him upon realizing he was wrapped up in his brother. Waking up feeling like this was scary. He wouldn't deny that fact. When Klaus blacked out from a crazy night, there was no telling where he'd end up. There had been times where he had found himself in  _quite_ the pickle to keep thing short.

But then another thought hit Klaus: Ben wasn't cuddly. Klaus was the cuddly one. He'd pester Ben with his touchy-nature when they were younger and the guy was actually alive and touchable. Ben would just let himself succumb to Klaus's hugs and tendency to lie his feet or head on his brother's lap, used to Klaus's casual invasion of his personal space.

Klaus remembered one specific instance when he returned home high as hell- one of the first times he was introduced to weed as a kid. He collapsed on the couch next to Ben who was reading (as always) and for some reason, Klaus just felt the extreme need to wrap all of his limbs around the little dork.

" _Klaus… Why…" Ben whined, the book being knocked from his hands as the unamused kid was wrapped in the all-too-happy Number Four._

" _Ben-cuddles." Klaus giggled as if it was the most hysterical thing he's ever heard. "Bentacles and Ben-cuddles. Bentacles, Ben-cuddles, Bentaca- Be- Te- Ca- Cal- Ben- Woah. Try saying_ _ **that**_ _ten times fast. Bentacles, Ben-cuddles, Bentaca, Ben-cudatecabutaca-"_

Anyway… What Klaus was trying to get at if his mind would stop getting distracted by happier memories: Ben never instigated it. He wasn't touchy, so Klaus was boisterously invasive for the both of them.

So this was starting to worry Klaus more than ease his mind. Something bad must've happened. Something really bad. Deep down, Klaus knew it was probably his fault whatever it was. He  _did_  remember finally leaving Ben's door in a bad state of mind, intent on numbing himself in any way possible.

Whatever the hell happened after that was a mystery; a mystery he was unfortunately about to solve.

"I feel like utter shit." Klaus moaned, deciding to break the silence and get this over with. It was safe to assume that Ben would have a few choice words. He mentally prepared himself the best he could, but it was hard when he didn't even know what he was defending himself against.

"Good."

Oh, there was something just so comforting about Benji's voice, even if it was mixed with disappointed and accusatory undertones. Klaus may not have remembered the details of his night, but he did still sit with the overall feeling that it produced in his chest. It felt hollow in there, even though he didn't know why. He felt empty, useless, in major need of a fix, and drained all at once.

It was quiet after that. Neither of the Hargreeves moved or spoke.

 _UGH,_ Klaus just wished he'd get it over with. Mainly because small snippets were starting to come back to him and he did  _not_ like what he was remembering.

Klaus didn't know much about the last few hours, but he did know that going into it, part of him wasn't expecting to make it out. And that had been okay with him. He'd never straight out kill himself. He'd feel much to guilty for that, but something about being  _so_ self-ruinous to the point of never coming back took that load off of his shoulders- like he couldn't fully blame himself if he was just to crush his own spirit and physical being into oblivion through outside motives: Drugs, alcohol, bad neighborhoods, violent company…

Klaus started to remember flashes of all of these things. Like a trippy montage from a movie, images of sticking himself with a needle, feeling a tiny tablet on his tongue, nearly suffocating in a chaotic crowd of people packed together like sardines, strangers grabbing at his body, bites on his neck, being thrown around like a doll, passing out in the cold, waking up to do it all over again…

Shit… He didn't know the gravity or the sequence of it, but last night was…  _yikes._ Even for Klaus.

Backtracking to before this all went down, a lot contributed to Klaus reaching a dark place when he resorted to trying to wait for Ben to get home. To wrap things up with a nice little bow: Failing sobriety, the ghosts getting worse ever since losing Ben as a ghostly-confidant, his disappointment in himself for  _still_ not being able to conjure Dave, thinking about how disappointed his beautiful soldier would be in him, thinking of how disappointed his family  _is_ in him now, how disappointed in himself he was…

Klaus just felt more and more worthless by the day, like he wasn't meant to be here with everyone else. He didn't want to fall captive of the drugs again, but it was just so damn hard when he could barely live the day to day with his own self-damning thoughts plus the added damnation of his angry spirits.

He could've gone to the café that Ben was at if he  _really_ wanted to try and seek his brother's help, but a small part of Klaus didn't, even if he didn't admit that to himself the other day. Part of him didn't want Ben to come back, almost like that gave him permission to run off and deal with his pain in whatever self-destructive way he chose. As if Klaus could say "Well, I tried" and that would warrant him to be able to do whatever the hell he wanted.

And he hated that he was  _that_ sibling. The one that everyone had to put everything on hold for. The one who never rose above the lowest of expectations. The one that everyone wished they could ignore but he just kept finding a way back into their lives, fucking everything up in his path like an out of control hurricane.

That's why he tried so hard to push Ben away as of late. But here he was, wrapped up in Klaus's bullshit again.

Klaus couldn't help the way that his body jolted against his wishes, sobs caught in his chest like raging prisoners trying to bust through the cage of his ribs. It hurt too much to completely let himself give into them, but a few choked breaths escaped through his throat as every emotion he's been trying so hard to bury came clawing to the surface like dead rising from the grave.

He tried so hard to prohibit his family from being a part of this shit storm and now look- he hurt his family and fucked with their lives  _and_ survived to probably do it again in the future. They couldn't even be rid of him at the end of the day for God sakes.

Klaus swallowed painfully, feeling hot tears stinging his cheeks as he continued to try to keep the violent sobs at bay. At first, Ben's body tensed underneath him as if he was decided what how he wanted to react. Within the first second though, his brother fell victim to his sympathetic Ben-ways and just wound his arms around Klaus tighter, repositioning his head so that his chin rested on Klaus's.

A sigh flowed through his brother's chest- he could hear it where his ear was pressed to where Ben's neck met his shoulder. Klaus could also feel it (quite painfully so) in his own torso when he rose with Ben's own expanding chest. On his left bicep that had miraculously made it through the night without acquiring any cuts or bruises, Ben rubbed his upper arm comfortingly.

"I'm sorry," Klaus choked, sniffling and wincing how even that sent shooting pangs through his muscles and bones. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" He continued to whisper. Ben just let him have his slight meltdown. Klaus was grateful. After numbing everything for so long, he needed to implode in a fiery mushroom cloud.

He was also grateful that none of his other siblings came in. He was at home after all. He had put that much together.

Who knows how much time passed before Klaus managed to retain some self-control; enough to stop convulsing with rippling, stunted sobs at least. Whatever he had done last night tired him the fuck out, so balancing the pain of moving and the need to emotionally let go left him pretty spent.

Once things got quiet again, Ben spoke up, his voice low and testing as if he wanted to remain gentle but he had pressed, denouncing questions.

"How much do you remember?"

Klaus didn't answer. How did he answer that?

Hm… What was the answer that would upset him the  _least_ without straight out lying?

"Like… How did you get these bruises? Or the breaks, or the cuts, or the head trauma while we're at it?" As Ben started to get going, his voice started to waver, anger seeping in.

_Uh oh, here we go._

"Was it a so-call "friend" or- or- were you just too high out of your mind while in a bad part of town?  _Or-_ " Ben's pace picked up, his voice now risen to an unnaturally high level of forced volume. "- was it when you  _sold_ yourself for dope? Or do you even know at this point?"

All softness had dissipated within his brother at the speed of light. Klaus couldn't blame him. He wasn't surprised either.

Still, he didn't know how to answer. His mind was so jumbled, his body was switching between so many emotions all at once and every time Ben's body jolted with an angry gesture, he got dizzy with agony. Thankfully, Ben carefully eased out from underneath Klaus so that Four fully lied on the pillow. From here though, he could look into Ben's angrily begging eyes.

"Klaus." Ben warned, leaning in close to Klaus so that he was forced to keep his gaze. "Hey-" He said when Klaus tried to look away. "I just found you practically dead in the freezing rain in some deserted alleyway after searching for four hours on end. Fuck, you  _did_ die. The only reason you're alive is because you have siblings that'd do anything for your impossible, high-maintenance, selfish ass. So the  _very_ least you could do is talk to me."

Ouch.

"I-"

"You think your actions just affect you?"

Klaus huffed and sank further into his highly-propped up pillow. If he wanted an answer then why was he just going to interrupt him anyway?

"Like I can just magically stop caring? You know, sometimes I really wish I could. Wouldn't it be nice to finally not be constantly feeling sick to my stomach with worry that you're out there killing yourself in a goddamn Klaus-tornado? Did you even stop to think  _once_ about how much this  _fucking_ kills me? Or how much I blame myself for not being there or stopping it or doing enough? Or is it just always 'woe is me'. 'Woe is Klaus'-"

"I don't remember." Klaus choked out as strongly as he could.

"You don't remember what?"

"Anything! I don't remember anything!" Klaus slurred out quickly, hoping that he at least wouldn't have to explain himself  _too_ much considering he didn't even know what there was to explain.

"Really? Nothing. Or is that just another lie to dodge talking about the clusterfuck of things that are  _obviously_ going on with you?"

"I remember waiting outside your door and then a little bit of walking to Georgie's and that's it. I swear."

And it was true. Georgie was his main dealer, so it made sense too. He probably bought a shit ton of stuff and that was that- the rest of the night, gone.

"You see where that's a problem, right? That there are just over six hours of life that you lost? Including four hours of somehow finding every single way in Sam-hell to abuse yourself to death?"

" _YES,_ yes, okay? Ben, I don't know what you want me to say. You're right. I get it. You don't think I hate myself every time I pick up a needle or a pill or-"

"I DO. I do, fuck… I think you think that everyone hates you. The world hates you. And yes, most of all I  _know_ you hate yourself and that's the fucking problem, dude. You have  _zero_ respect for yourself and I- I can't fix that, I can't-"

Ben's voice broke a bit at the end as his words grew heated and then suddenly saturated in a soft fall of emotion. Klaus tried to ignore the pang it sent straight to his gut.

"I'm not asking you to! Why do you think that I've tried to keep you out of this? It doesn't have to be your business."

" _YES IT DOES, because_  that's what happens when you care about someone, dumbass. Do you even remember what that feels like? To care? About anybody, about anything?

"Of course I care about things, Ben." Klaus spat back, unamused by his growing snappiness.

"Molly, heroin, and speed don't count."

"Now you're just being intolerable."

Klaus swore he saw a flicker of red, hot, furious fire spark across Ben's dark eyes. When his brother shifted in a quick agitated reset of his position, Klaus flinched as his own eyes flickered to Ben's hand moving to pull his shirt down, luckily just simply adjusting.

Klaus almost laughed at himself at the instance. It was silly, but-

"Did you just flinch?"

"What?"

Klaus definitely heard what Ben asked but he didn't want to admit the answer to that.

Ben's whole demeanor changed. Klaus could recognize that face anywhere- it was the same face he made when he was trying not to smile at something dumb Klaus was doing or saying. The corner of Ben's lips just barely turned up as he looked down at his shirt.

"Do you actually think I'd go full tentacle on you?" He asked, not doing a very good job at keeping his amusement subsided. Klaus broke into a smile in return, pulling the sheets over his face to hide from the shame of truly being worried about exactly that for a split second there.

"NO! I mean- I don't know! You rarely get this mad! Don't laugh at me..." He defended, his body regretfully shaking with contained chuckles at the thought of actually being scared that he might die right there from bentacle fury.

Ben didn't have quite the same constraint. He burst into giggles and that was it for Klaus too. He emerged slowly from his embarrassed hiding place, trying to ignore his protesting ribs as he laughed for the first time in what felt like ages.

"I guess it's because I wouldn't blame you."

Those deep orbs melted and Ben's whole presence shifted down again, his muscles relaxing and his face slackening into defeat.

Ugh… Sad Ben was so much worse than angry Ben.

Number Six carefully gripped Klaus's arms.

"I'm just trying to- Klaus." Ben brought him back when Klaus's attention was distracted down to the pattern of colored bruises on his chest. Woah, those were… woah. "Klaus, hey."

 _Oh yeah, Ben._ Klaus looked back up into those anguished eyes that made you feel bad just for existing.

"I love you." Ben caught him off guard. Aw… " _So_ fucking much... But you need to go somewhere, man."

What the hell did he mean,  _somewhere_?

"I can't do anything else to help you. Not after this. It's out of my hands. It's on you and if you don't have the initiative to do anything about it because obviously, you don't, then for the love of God, go get help."

"Pfft… What, like rehab again? Been there done that and-"

"Look at me. If you have any ounce of respect left for yourself or for me, you at least owe me that. It's not fair to keep me in this goose chase, Klaus. And don't you dare say I've "chosen" to get involved because if it were me, you'd do the same god damn thing."

Well fuck it, how could he argue that? Ben had a way of talking you into a corner.

His brother looked away and suddenly Klaus was hit with the finalizing blow.

"Or at least I used to think so." He muttered so quietly and painfully that Klaus had to recheck his brain to make sure he heard correctly.

 _Big_ ouch. The thought that Ben truly was doubting how much Klaus cared about him was… well, it was new territory. That had been through all kinds of shit in the past couple of decades, but never had there ever been a doubt that at the end of the day, they still and would always have each other.

Ugh.  _Ugh…_ As if every other single valid point that Ben made in the past ten minutes wasn't enough, that last comment did him in. And Klaus did want to get better, he really did. Contrary to popular belief, at the end of it all, he didn't  _like_ being this way.

Ben seemed to be about done with that last impact. He had turned away from Klaus, his back against the headboard of the bed and his eyes lost somewhere lightyears away. Klaus watched him with big guilty eyes for a while, waiting for him from a respectful distance.

He had zero patience though.

Not caring and blatantly admitting to himself that he was needy and required constant validation and attention, Klaus bit down on his tongue against the aching pain to slide forward towards Ben, resting his head on his brother's arm and closing his eyes. Ben instantly mindlessly shifted so that his arm was draped around Klaus's back, his hand thoughtlessly rubbing his shoulder through his shirt.

Klaus didn't even care that he was brushing against some heavy bruising. He just needed this- human contact with someone who he knew  _actually_ cared about him. Not some rando who just wanted to watch Klaus wince.

As of late, every time Ben tried to pry his way into Klaus's business (lovingly and with smart intention, of course) it became harder and harder for Klaus to resist him. So many times, this is all he wanted to do on the inside- curl up against the only healthy constant that he's ever had in his life.

Well,  _maybe_ his reliance on Ben could be looked at in the realm of unhealthy dependability by some people, buuuuut those people could suck a dick and mind their own beeswax.

Anyway, there was always some small inner voice that kept Klaus from caving in and just opening up to Ben. Part of it was the guilt of holding his brother back now that he had a spankin' new life to live on his own. Part of it was the shame of him being too weak to do things on his own. Part of it was just pure stubbornness. Part of it, Klaus still didn't understand.

Maybe it wasn't the worst idea that he went away and figured some shit out. It was just the thought of going without Ben that kind of terrified him. He'd never done it alone before. He had hardly done  _anything_ alone before, but maybe that was even more reason to get away. He couldn't pull Ben down forever. He also couldn't completely shut him out. There had to be a balance, but Klaus had never been good at balancing anything.

"Okay."

Ben turned, his mindless circles over Klaus's back halting.

"Okay, what?"

"Okay, I'll go to rehab."

Ben tensed and he shifted, shifting Klaus in return. He groaned, pain rippling through his ribs.

"Sorry. Really, though? You're not bullshitting me?"

"No. If it'll tickle your pickle."

"At least pretend to do it partially for yourself, bro."

"Yeah, sure. That too." Klaus rolled his eyes. But yeah, okay. Ben was right. He did want that. At least Ben seemed satisfied enough with his answer for now. Even if he didn't, they didn't have time to discuss it further before Mom came in to do a full check on Klaus's condition.

And how stupid Klaus was to have so naively thought that it would be that easy- Think, "I'm going to go to rehab, maybe get something out of it, come and fix things at home…"

He was so optimistic in that moment. Optimistic and stupid, because things were never that easy. Especially when it came to him. It didn't help that Ben didn't exactly keep his word either though.

Because apparently, Ben had different plans. He just didn't tell Klaus that. Number Four would soon have to find out the hard way.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE! Klaus has joined the POV party. Wasn't expecting it, but it felt like he needed to make an appearance here. 
> 
> Regarding my previous question about why Ben was upset in "The Day That Wasn't"... Wow! I feel like not one single person said the same thing which is really cool. So many theories! That's so interesting. Glad I'm not the only one who wasn't quite sure. Thanks for your input!
> 
> Also- two more chapters for this story. Onto the next Klaus adventure after that. No worries, I'm not going anywhere. 
> 
> Thank you guys!


	7. Nuh-Uh, No Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben reluctantly tricks Klaus which yields explosive results.

An awkward period of time came about after Ben and Klaus's talk. Not because they weren't on the same page, but because the decision had been made to admit Klaus to an institution, however, he wasn't healed enough to do so. Part of Ben was kind of grateful for the grace period though. It gave them time to spend as "one unit" again rather than operating on opposite sides of a chasm like as of late.

The other part of him knew that it was just going to make it harder to actually get Klaus to go. His brother had a way of guilting people into getting what he wanted by overloading them with his puppy-dog eyes and excessive amounts of love and pestering.

They hadn't talked about it for two days, but he just had a feeling that it was how it was going to go down.

At this point though, Ben was cautiously starting to wonder if there was even a  _need_ for rehabilitation. After a day of staying in the medical wing with Klaus's persistent whining about all the pain he was in, the next day looked up significantly. Not just with his pain, but with his attitude. It  _actually_ felt like Klaus was Klaus again.

Ben remembered coming home from helping move Vanya into of her new apartment (there were just too many sour memories of the Leonard/Apocalypse situation in the old one) to see Diego helping Klaus walk around the Academy hallways. Number Four had his arms slung over Two's shoulders, wincing in pain with each step but otherwise doing pretty well considering.

"I'm  _just_ saying… respectively… that if you took the stick out of your ass, you'd actually be kinda cool."

"Just because I don't shovel narcotics into my system and wake up with a new rando in my bed every morning doesn't mean I don't know how to have fun."

"Well, I'm not saying to do  _thaaaat_  but what was the last thing you did for fun?"

"Just last week I beat the shit out of a serial dog-shop robber."

" _Fun_ , Diego."

"That's fun to me!"

"Pitiful. Just pathetical, really. Don't worry. Ben and I are going to get you out more."

"Christ, that makes me worry more. And you've gotta figure your shit out first. We going to go out with you wrapped around me like this?"

"Oh, what this? Pfft… I don't even need your help. I was just trying to appease your need for my love and attention." Klaus denied, not hiding the fact that he was totally bullshitting. Diego still ran with it.

"If you say so."

Number Two slipped out from under Klaus's weight causing for his knees to instantly buckles and his torso cave.

"WAIT,"

Diego caught Klaus by his upper arm right before he hit the ground, yanking him back to his feet. Four groaned and snaked his arm around Diego's shoulders again. Despite the obvious pain he was in, he giggled and even got Diego to smile.

"Fucking asshole…" Klaus chuckled.

It was moments like these where Ben started to get hope for not needing to send Klaus away, but he knew hope was a dangerous thing: Proceed with caution.

It didn't take long for an opportunity to exercise such caution to hit like a tidal wave. Within that very same evening, that  _same_ day that started off so well, all hope dissipated.

"Hey, where's Klaus?" Ben posed the simple yet loaded question to Luther who was bent over a magazine that recently displayed them all on the front page. Luther didn't look, obviously not too worried about Ben's inquiries.

"Uh… I went to get him to go shopping but he said that you wanted to take him out to a movie last second."

…

Ben just blinked, processing this.

_Uh… No, I didn't._

The past couple days, ever since Klaus was well enough to walk on his own (not well, but he was getting there) they had a kind of understood cycle or system. No one felt like he could be left alone, so they accompanied him in shifts whether it be just hanging out in his room as he rambled about something or other, taking him out to do something relatively fun to try to distract him from his pain and cravings, or just dragging him along to errands like Luther was supposed to do.

Now, the very reason they had all agreed on this arrangement was coming to fruition faster than he had expected, if Ben even had expected it to happen at all. Knowing Klaus, he  _should've_  expected it.

Meanwhile, Luther's face slowly rose from the magazine, his face twisted in regretful realization. The brothers met eyes.

"He's not with you?" Luther asked.

Ben was shaking with frustration and worry now, his hand absentmindedly raising to push his fingers through his hairline. He looked away and closed his eyes shut again a rising migraine.

"No. No, Luther. He's not with me. And he's not with you, so…"

"Crap."

"Yeah."

"Maybe Diego grabbed him."

"Diego's preparing for his fight tonight, Allison's on the phone with Claire, Five is sleeping off a hangover, and Vanya's at practice." Ben's voice rose with each word as terrible images flooded his mind. Images that weren't just figments of a wild and dark imagination, no… Images of the very real and very recent event in which Ben found his brother practically dead and wasted away in the alleyway.

God, he couldn't bear to see that again. Neither could Klaus. In his current condition, even if he was healing each day, if he sought out any of the destructive behavior that had torn him down before, he surely wouldn't survive this time.

Luther jumped to his feet, shoving back the table in front of him.

"We'll find him."

And they did. Just not where or how they expected. Ben and Luther had jumped in a car and scanned the streets for a couple of hours before decided that they should return to the Academy to get the rest of the siblings involved as their search yielded zero results. When they did, they found a trembling Number Four balled up in the corner of the living room, waiting for them to come home.

As soon as Ben saw him, the first thing he checked for was signs of abuse- both physical and drug-related. He seemed relatively the same as when he first left him though, just a million times more antsy and wide-eyed.

"Hey. Hey…" Ben rushed to his side. Klaus didn't even acknowledge him. His eyes were set straight forward with that thousand-yard stare. He anxiously pulled at the skin around his fingernails, even drawing blood in some places. "Where have you been?"

As it turns out, Klaus escaped the house with every intention of scoring more dope or finding any number of distractions. Apparently, begrudgingly thinking against it, he made his way back home to wait for Ben again… Very similar to how he did the first time he went missing but this go-around it yielded much more favorable results. He used the word "favorable" loosely though. Klaus's state of mind was on the verge of going over the edge.

"I can't- I can't-"

Klaus moaned and let his forehead fall to his knees, his fingers scratching at his legs over his pants. Ben waited for him to give him some insight as to what was flooding his mind, but he stayed like that, hunched over and closed off.

"Talk to me, dude."

"I can't live with them, I can't live without them- I don't want to constantly be fucked up but Ben, I can't… I  _can't_ fucking deal with everything or- or-"

"Alright, alright. Come sit down on the couch and try to, uh- Breathe or something. I'll go get some tea, yeah?"

Ben was relieved that Klaus had resisted his urges this time, but he was truly on the brink and Ben could see that. It was terrifying how Klaus could go from his bubbly, slightly-annoying self one moment of the day to drop down to this kind of low the next. The way he kept talking too… How he desperately believed he couldn't function with  _or_ without drugs… he couldn't function at all. He couldn't live. At some point, he just kept repeating that.

It  _terrified_ Ben.

That was the final push for Six. If there was no way of predicting when Klaus would spiral into madness, he couldn't constantly be alert for the possibility. They couldn't keep this cycle going. Their lives were too hectic and Klaus wouldn't want that either… To be constantly "babysat" he'd say.

So that night, Ben brought out the papers that he had gathered and prepared a while ago. He sat with Klaus on the couch, intent on not getting up until he got what he came for.

"Ugh… We're still on that, huh?" Klaus asked sourly, glaring at the admission papers in Ben's hand.

"Yes. We're still on  _that_." Ben wasn't playing games.

"Well…What if I just stayed at home and worked things out like-"

"Klaus. Look me in the eyes and tell me that you're sure that the next time you get an urge like tonight, you'll be able to resist."

His still-trembling brother looked away. That's what he thought.

"Fine. Just Westshore, right? Like, the three-day program thingie. Nothing crazy. I'm not going away for a fucking month or anything." Klaus rambled, taking a puff of his cigarette in the middle of the living room and grabbing the papers out of Ben's hands.

Ben didn't say anything. Klaus must've just taken that as agreement, but Ben had other motives that he just didn't want to disclose to Klaus. He knew how his brother would react if he knew that these papers weren't in fact for Westshore or even a drug rehab center in general. A form of rehabilitation, sure, but not just for drugs. Ben recognized a long time ago that Klaus needed more than that.

Another thing Six knew- Klaus wouldn't read the papers. He just flipped to the end and haphazardly signed his name sloppily at the bottom, shoving the forms back into Ben's lap.

"Ugh…" Klaus groaned, throwing his head back on the couch cushion and closing his eyes. "Maybe Casey will be there. That'd be okay, I guess."

Casey was one of Klaus's friends who frequented the Westshore Drug Rehabilitation center. Ben bit his lip nervously, refraining from answering again.

If he just didn't answer, he technically wasn't lying, right? He was just… withholding the truth.

The guilt infused pang in his chest told him otherwise, but what else was he supposed to do?

* * *

"It was a Moose but it was like… mini. Dog-sized maybe. Still, though. Its horns were all big and pointy. It was still scary and it was chasing me until it turned into Serena Williams but  _giant_ Serena Williams. She was trying to smash me with her giant croquet mallet-"

"She plays tennis, dumbass."

"Yeah. I  _know,_ Di-e-goooo. But in my dream, she played croquet, 'kay? So when she swung it, it made this high pitched screeching sound. Like those weird screechy monkeys, right? Chris Hemsworth came out of nowhere and was like 'Klaus, I want to be with you' and I was like… Chris. Please. I'm in the middle of a life-threatening situation right now. Come back in half an hour."

Klaus kept retelling the accounts of his dream from last night, his body sprawled out across the backseat of Diego's car and his forearms draped across his eyes. He talked fast and expressively as Ben was used to him doing, but there was another layer to his tone that told Ben that one of the only reasons Klaus was currently talking was to do anything to get his mind off of the bad thoughts creeping in. He didn't even need to glance back from the passenger seat to know that his brother was trembling from any mix of cravings, anxiousness, or pain from his previous injuries.

Ever since that night when Klaus had practically cracked up, he hadn't been the same. You couldn't keep his mind on one thing for more than five seconds, he was constantly nervously fidgeting, and sometimes he'd go into strange, dark spells of locking himself in his room alone, refusing to talk to anyone. Ben was able to make it in there once (after a good deal of pestering from outside his door) but even then, Klaus wouldn't talk. He'd just lie in bed facing away from his brother, curled up and unmoving for hours.

It was for that reason that Number Six knew for sure that drug rehab wasn't just enough. He just… couldn't bring himself to discuss that with Klaus. He  _knew_ his brother would throw a fit.

That's why Ben hadn't yet opened his mouth the whole car ride. Every word he said just felt like a lie with the knowledge that he wasn't giving Klaus the whole truth. If it all came out in the car ride too… Who knows what would happen.

The facility came into view. Ben recognized it from the photos in the pamphlets. He was glad that Klaus was distracted enough to wave away the fact that it took much longer to get here than Westshore would've taken.

A pit sunk deep in Ben's abdomen. This wasn't going to be a pretty goodbye, and he knew it. Once Klaus figured out what was happening, he'd go no other way than kicking and screaming.

Diego's car came to a stop right outside the large building. It was nice- expensive too. Thanks to Reginald, that wasn't an issue. At least the bastard was good for something.

Klaus didn't suspect anything, but once the car halted, so did his ramblings. The air in the car grew heavy and no one dared move for a second. Finally, Diego made the first move. He popped open the front door and opened the one near Klaus's feet. Four didn't move.

"C'mon." He said, hitting Klaus's legs playfully. He groaned and rubbed his face tiredly. Ben watched from the rearview mirror. He didn't dare turn. He was just waiting for the moment for his brother to realize that Ben had been lying this whole time. "Klaus. C'mon, bud."

Diego finally managed to get a reluctant Four to his feet. Number Two reached in the car and grabbed Klaus's bag for him, slinging it around his shoulder. Ben turned his eyes away from the mirrors at that point. He saw a twist of confusion flash over Klaus's face and he couldn't watch anymore.

"Wait-"

Diego sighed.

"Klaus…"

"No, no, no. You- you said Westshore. We're at the wrong place."

"We're not at the wrong place."

"No. No. Ben, what-"

Ben closed his eyes from the passenger seat, still unmoving. He felt Klaus's eyes on the back of his head through the car window.

"Ben, what the fuck? We agreed- I'm not going to some new place. Nuh-uh. No way."

"Let's just go inside. Check it out."

Ben heard things get physical and that's when he finally kicked himself into gear. He rushed out of the car and around to where Klaus was trying to hit away Diego's hands on his shoulders.

"Ben! Ben…" Klaus shoved past Diego and approached Six with big, pleading eyes. "Please. Please, you promised-"

"I didn't say anything." The words stung Klaus, he could tell. He saw realization hit his brother like a mean ton of bricks- all those times Klaus did all the talking about Westshore and Ben just wouldn't answer. In a split second, anger took over and before he could stop it, "Hello" and "Goodbye" were being shoved into his chest. Ben stumbled but absorbed the blow. He was expecting this. To be honest, he felt like he kind of deserved it.

"You fucking  _tricked_ me? Who said this was your decision?"

"I'm not doing this to spite you, dude! Drug rehab is- it isn't enough. Not this time."

"What- what do you mean? What the hell is this then?" Klaus threw an arm out towards the building that honestly looked more like a resort.

"They do drug rehab things, yeah… But they specialize in a bunch of stuff."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Like…" Ben searched for a better way of putting it, something that wouldn't set Klaus off. He couldn't find it though. Not when he was being hounded like this. Might as well just be totally up front now. "Mental health stuff."

" _WHAT? Like a nut house? With the crazies?"_

"Klaus. Calm it."

" _Calm it?_ Fuck you, Diego. You were in on this too."

"Hey-"

"No. Fuck this. Fuck rehab. Take me home." Klaus tried to move for the car door, but Diego grabbed his wrist and held him in place. Klaus shoved his elbow into Diego's gut which just pissed him off. Two grabbed his wrist and twisted so that Klaus was held still in a painful position. "For fuck's sake!" Klaus grunted, finally wiggling his way out of Diego's grasp but not daring to go for the car again. He shook out his hand. "You can't  _make_ me go. I won't."

"Yes, actually we can." Ben said, crossing his arms to try to hide the fact that he truly did feel like a guilty piece of shit right about now.

"Uh- No you can't. Not how that works."

"You signed the papers. They can keep you for three days whether you want to or not. Then you can do whatever the hell you want, but that  _is_ how it works here."

Before he even got out his last word, Ben was nearly pummeled. He didn't even see Klaus come at him, he just felt blows to his chest, his shoulders, and what  _would've_ been his face if Diego hadn't stepped in and pulled Four off of him.

"You fucking. Deceitful.  _Asshole!"_

Ben took a few stumbling steps back away, surprised but also not-so-surprised by the attack. He remained patient though, straightening his hair and sighing.

"Because I knew this is how you'd react!"

As Klaus struggled in Diego's firm grasp, Ben watched his resistance dissolve. His face morphed again, and suddenly he was a whole different shade of Klaus. His body slumped in Two's arms. Diego let him go cautiously and Klaus moved forward. Ben instinctively flinched, but Klaus wasn't out for blood. He was out for guilt and sympathy.

"Ben… Benny, please…" Klaus gripped at his jacket, drilling a pleading gaze into his eyes. "Please don't leave me here. Please."

"Don't do that to me."

"I can't. Ben, please. I can stay at home with you and-"

"Klaus," he started to regretfully object, hating how even though he knew Klaus was playing games with him, it still sent pangs of shame through his chest. He didn't even get to spit out the argument though- Diego had gently grabbed Klaus and was pulling him away. That sparked the anger again though. Within that short moment, Klaus was a whole new person again.

"Ben, I  _swear to Christ._ If you leave me here, I will  _not_ come back afterward. I won't come home. I'm done. I'm serious!" He called, Diego pulling him further and further away towards the front doors.

"Wait, Diego. I want to come-" Ben tried to follow.

"No. Stay out here."

Ben took a hesitant step forward, wanting to be there for Klaus when they admitted him even if he didn't want Ben there.

"Ben!" Diego scolded. "Stay. Here."

"I won't forgive you for this. Do you hear me? Ben!"

Six remained frozen in his spot, watching Klaus try to thrash his way out of Diego's hold. His eyes never left his. Ben wanted to tell himself that this was just Klaus being wildly irrational and trying to say whatever he needed to in order to get out of the situation, but his eyes… His eyes were fucking daggers. His eyes were true to his words and Ben couldn't deny that every insult and threat that he was making was hitting him hard.

By some miracle though, Diego got Klaus through the front doors and out of sight.

_My God…_ Ben thought.  _What if this was the last time I ever see him?_

Klaus didn't mean it. He wouldn't be able to just… drop Ben for his life, right?

The one thing that made Ben not-so-sure was the gravity of what he just did. He basically tricked Klaus into imprisoning himself. Granted, three days in a resort-style rehabilitation center was hardly a prison, but the method in which he got his brother here sat sour in his stomach. Looking back though, Ben wasn't entirely sure that he wouldn't do it all over again though. If he didn't force it, Klaus would never go.

He just hoped that it wouldn't all be pointless. If Klaus was still in his stubborn mindset three days from now, then he was free to get up and leave. And then what? If he didn't come home, who knows where he'd go or what he'd do to himself.

_Please, please…_ Ben begged to anyone or anything that may be listening.  _Please make him want to stay._

Typically, people stayed for about a week after the three days. That's what the research he did turned up. The three-day period was just if you slipped into an irrational frenzy and suddenly wanted to drop out. Your earlier signature from when you were more rational was supposed to veto that. After three days, you could keep going with the program or leave.

Ben had faith in Klaus though, despite his pitfalls. He knew his brother wanted to get better, but there was this other side to him that constantly resisted.

Diego didn't come out after five minutes like Ben thought he would, so he slowly made his way back to the car, suddenly needing to sit down. He painfully pulled the door open, his muscles feeling like useless, shivering enigmas. Not to mention, he was already sore from where Klaus battered him.

Dropping into the seat, Ben's throat instantly swelled to a painful level. He felt like there was a softball just sitting in his esophagus. He clenched his jaw and took a deep breath, turning his eyes down away from the building. He needed to get out of here. He needed to leave before he went right back in there and took Klaus home with him.

The front door opened, scaring Ben half-to-death. He watched Diego climb in, unaccompanied and free from Klaus's bag that had been slung over his shoulder earlier. He started the car without a word and they left. Ben watched the building shrink in the rearview mirror, trying not to blame himself for how things went down.

He just wanted his brother to get better. If that meant that Ben pissed Klaus off enough to relinquish a place in his brother's life… As much as it stung, so be it.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this took so long! One more chapter for this story and then I think I'm going to start some Dave/Klaus stuff.
> 
> Did you guys see the new interview with Robbie about Season 2? Lots of cool things in there. He's hinting that drugs won't be Klaus's main schtick anymore and he focuses all that energy elsewhere.
> 
> So... what do you think he focused on instead? Any theories?
> 
> I hope it's Dave's ghost or something like that. That'd be a win, and he needs one. Especially because Robbie talked about how he loved the whole Vietnam/falling-in-love stuff that happened with Klaus's character in the same interview.
> 
> Also- Season 2 reunion photos being posted everywhere with the cast members! Blesssssss, it's coming!


	8. Cheep, Cheep, Ben

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Following rock-bottom, the only way left to go is up.

"Hargreeves. Yeah. Klaus Hargreeves. He was just admitted earlier today."

Ben waited impatiently, tapping his fingers nervously on the telephone that he held to his ear. The lady on the other end was obviously in no hurry to get him the answers or contact he needed, just hiking up his anxiety to threatening levels. As soon as he had walked back into the Academy, Ben had wanted to call, but he held off. Besides, Klaus probably would still be heated for at least a couple hours.

Begrudgingly, Six gave his brother half the day to cool down and get settled in. But now, his patience was wavering. He hated leaving things the way he left them with Klaus. He hated not being able to see him whenever he wanted to especially because he's always been right by his side for so many years. They didn't constantly see each other these days, but the option was always there if they wanted to. Now Number Four was locked away… and Ben was the one who put him there.

Guilt. That's what truly was tearing Ben apart. Lots and lots of good ol' guilt.

"Mr. Hargreeves?"

"Yes?" Ben answered immediately, not caring that she may have sensed the tinge of desperation hanging onto his voice.

"Uh, you may want to call back later. Try tomorrow, possibly."

"What- What does that mean?" Ben pressed, having been trained to expect the worst after the recent events they had all been put through. Hesitation seeped through the phone line. Ben could feel it on the woman. It had only been six hours… What could've possibly happened in six hours?

Ben rolled his eyes at himself. This was Klaus- Six hours was  _plenty._

"He just… doesn't wish to speak right now."

_Oh._

Ben sighed. Yeah, he guessed he should've seen that coming.

"Okay, uh… I'll try tomorrow. Thank you."

"Of course-"

"Oh, and what are visiting hours again?"

"Tomorrow's hours are between 2 and 4."

"Thank you."

"Mhm. Buh-bye, now."

The next day Ben tried again.

"Klaus can't come to the phone right now."

"Why not?"

The woman was different from yesterday but had the same response.

"Well… Okay, he doesn't  _wish_ to come to the phone right now."

_Gee, thanks._

And so, Ben tried to physically go in. He had Diego drive him again, Number Two not minding as much as Ben thought he would. He got the sense that Diego's mind was still on dropping Klaus off the other day. It wasn't easy for Ben and he doubted it was easy for Diego either.

"How'd you do it?" Ben asked when they were in the car en-route to the facility. His fingers hadn't stopped fidgeting since he plopped down in the passenger seat. This was just his brother though for Christ's sake… just Klaus. Why was he so nervous? It wasn't like he was about to meet the president.

Diego's eyes flickered to Ben, then back to the road.

"How'd you get him to calm down enough to actually go?" Ben continued to clarify. He had been wondering since Diego returned victorious the previous day. The last thing Ben saw of Klaus, it seemed like they'd never get him in that place.

"Well, once I got him through the door he stopped literally kicking and screaming. Plus, I shoved him against the wall and  _may_ have  _mildly_ injured his shoulder. Whoops."

Ben snorted an amused breath of air. Ah, yes. The Diego method: pure, physical force.

"But uh… He calmed down a bit after that- enough to allow me to sit him down to talk to him before we got into the lobby. Something finally clicked because I didn't have to drag him in after that. He wasn't happy about it, but he went voluntarily."

" _Really?_ "

"Hm." Diego hummed in confirmation.

"What'd you say?"

Diego stalled, his eyes shifting to the side for a moment like he was searching for the right words. Why did it seem like everyone was walking on eggshells around Ben?

Maybe that's how Klaus felt often.

"Ah, I don't know… Probably something about how he was being a selfish little prick and that he didn't stop once to realize how much his behavior was consuming you… or something."

Ben knew full-well that Diego probably knew exactly what he said to Klaus despite his pretending to not remember the details. It was only yesterday after all. Ben felt slightly exposed and a teeny annoyed that Diego turned it around to be about him, but he supposed that's why he was sparing some of the details. He wanted Klaus to want to go for  _himself_ , not for Ben. He couldn't help but also feel a little warmer knowing that Klaus still cared enough to reconsider based on his regard for Ben's feelings.

But then… If he cared then why was he refusing to talk to him?

Once inside, Ben found some further comfort in knowing that the place really was nice. It wasn't  _too_ nice to the point where Klaus would consider it "uppity", but it kind of reminded Ben of the same atmosphere that their own house gave off. He considered all of this when researching before. He must've looked into at least 20 places in as far as a 350-mile radius.

"Klaus… Klaus, Klaus, Klaus, Klaus…" A doctor mindlessly mumbled under his breath while scanning his clipboard before him. They stood in a large room that seemed to be one of the dining areas (yes, this place was big enough to have multiple). A few people sat at tables- loved ones visiting admitted friends and relatives. Klaus was nowhere to be found though, even though…

"I uh- I told them to tell him we were coming," Ben added, watching the doctor with the same impatience that fluttered in his chest from the last time he had tried to call. Over and over again Ben had been running through what he could say to his brother in his head, but at this moment as he was surrounded by unfamiliar sights, sounds, and smells plus the realization that Klaus could walk in any second- Ben forgot every word he had planned to say.

"Yes. He was informed." The doctor said, seeming to finally locate Klaus's name on the list. "Yeah. He's not coming."

"What." Ben said flatly, all nervousness gone. Now he was just annoyed.

"He opted not to come. We can't force him to, it's optional."

"And he knows we are here? Right now? Could you, I don't know… Ask again?"

The doctor sighed and turned sympathetic eyes to Ben which just made him more irritated.

"I'm sorry. Maybe try-"

"Tomorrow?" Ben finished before he could stop himself.

"I was going to say calling him and maybe setting a better time up."

"Okay, see. But I've  _tried_ calling and he-"

"Hey. Ben. C'mon. We'll come back another day." Diego's voice was suddenly behind him, his hands gripping his shoulders and pulling him away from the nice, patient doctor who Ben was dangerously close to taking all of his stress out on.

Ben sighed and went with his brother. Making scenes was Klaus's thing, not his. But once they were back in the car, Ben exploded.

"If this is his fucking immature way of throwing this whole situation back in my face, I- I- That's  _so_ Klaus. If he thinks I'm somehow going to regret what I did, then- then- then- he's just fucking wrong. He's wrong."

As the words came out, Ben didn't believe them and he could tell that neither did Diego. Number Two kept quiet, his eyes fixed on the road. Ben couldn't stop himself at this point.

"And, whatever. We don't have to talk every day and if he wants to be alone then... okay, good. At  _least_ a call just to say that's he's alright or does he just love watching us squirm? Who am I kidding? Of course, he does- he's been sending us in frantic circles for weeks now. I swear to God, he lives to just-"

"Dude. Give it a rest. You wanted him to go, now he's there. Don't get all butthurt that he's not returning your calls in the meantime."

Ben was admittedly shocked that Diego wasn't on his side about this.

"I- Okay, but-"

"Has anyone told you that you're a bit of a control freak?"

"Uh, yeah. You. Many times. That's hardly the point. You think I  _want_ to constantly be babysitting Klaus and managing his poor life decisions so that he doesn't kill himself every other day from one thing or another?"

"Yeah, actually. I'm starting to think you do."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"I think being able to constantly parent Klaus is as much as a security blanket for you as it is for him. Relax, Ben. He's safe and you have some time to focus on your life because God knows not everyone just gets gifted a shiny brand new one like you were. Let Klaus figure himself out for once and you do the same."

Ben was stunned.  _The audacity_ , Klaus would say in a mockingly high, theatrical voice. Ben just stayed quiet though, staring out the windshield. He mulled over every word that Diego had so shockingly shoved out into the world a moment ago. Finally, Ben spoke up again.

"When did you become such a smart ass?"

Diego flashed him a smile and Ben smiled back, a reluctant chuckle escaping his lips. How could he really be mad at his brother when everything he said was achingly true?

That didn't stop Ben from calling every single day for the next week though. And still, absolutely nothing. At this point, the employees at the rehab center knew his name and his voice. Before he could get out any words past "Hello", they'd come back with, "Klaus still isn't feeling up to speaking today, Mr. Hargreeves. Sorry."

His other siblings tried to distract Ben the best they could. He appreciated it, but he would just return from their little excursions and instantly slip back into the prison of his own room where he often brooded alone, switching between hating himself for sending his brother away, hating on his brother for being so petty, or just feeling downright lost with all of this life to live but without the only person he truly felt comfortable sharing it with.

Family sucks. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Family sucked just a bit more one night when everyone sat down to eat together.

"Five. Teriyaki, please." Vanya said, thanking the assassin for passing over one of the boxes stuffed full of take-out food. They tried to give Mom days off of cooking. They never minded when they were kids, but now that they were full-grown adults (or mostly full-grown depending on how you viewed their ever-remaining childhood trauma), it felt weird to have her constantly serving them. Of course,  _she_ didn't mind, but sometimes it was nice to have her just sit down and relax with them.

Other than Vanya's recent request, there were no other sounds other than the rustling of bags and boxes. Soon that even faded out as everyone settled down with their food, keeping to themselves with tired, uninterested eyes. Finally, Ben sensed eyes on him. He glanced up to see Allison looking around the table, her face warped in pained dismay.

"It's so quiet without him." She finally said, everyone ceasing their mindless movements and looking up, taken aback by the sudden delve into addressing the elephant in the room. Or maybe the elephant that  _wasn't_ in the room…

"Yeah… Do we even know that he's still there? At the facility? I mean, his three days ran up almost five days ago. Isn't he free to go?" Five asked in his casual matter-of-fact tone, taking a heaping bite of chicken afterward. Ben felt like he could sense a small hint of genuine interest and worry in there, trickling through Five's usually purely analytical appearance.

From the end of the table, Luther shrugged, eating an egg roll nearly whole. He swallowed.

"Said he was planning on staying a while. Didn't feel right to leave yet."

Ben froze. Wait… Did he just hear that right?

"Luther!" Allison whisper-scolded, elbowing the largest Hargreeves in the arm. He frowned at her defensively before both of their eyes flickered to Ben and then back to each other. "Shit… Sorry." He muttered.

That was all the confirmation Ben needed.

_Subtle. Real subtle._

"I'm sorry, he  _said_? You got him to come to the phone?"

Ben barely noticed that the only other people around the table who shared his shocked confusion were Five and Vanya. Diego, Allison, and Luther all exchanged guilty glances, turning sad eyes to Ben. Allison sighed and cocked her head like she did when she was about to deliver bad news.

"Ben, we visited him yesterday."

" _What?_ " Ben slammed his glass down on the table a little more forcefully than he intended. " _I_ tried to visit him yesterday! They told me the same thing as always.  _He doesn't wish to see you right now, Mr. Hargreeves. Klaus is busy. Klaus is tired. Klaus is unavailable._ "

No one had a response to that. Just those damned pity glares. Ben sighed and internally told himself to calm down before anyone would take him seriously. He turned renewed patience back to Allison who he guessed was being forced to be the spokesperson for the three of them.

"What- What did he say?"

"He's doing well. Really, we could tell immediately. I mean- I think the fact that he's staying says a lot on its own." She turned to look for confirmation from Luther and Diego. They gave her eager nods of agreement.

"Yeah, he said he met a few people. That there's lots to keep busy with- to keep his mind off of cravings and stuff." Diego added reluctantly, looking to Ben occasionally but using Allison as his safety.

"And he's been able to keep the ghosts at bay… Better at least." Luther chipped in. Ben didn't know what to make of everything. He thought he was coming down to a quiet dinner and then afterward, would return to his room for another night of tossing and turning and wondering if he could've handled something differently.

Obviously, he was thrilled to hear that Klaus seemed to genuinely be working some shit out, but…

"So… He just won't speak to  _me_ then?"

Luther nervously scratched the stubble on his face, dropping his elbow down on the table and leaning forward to seemingly stare into Ben's soul.

"He told us to tell you-"

"If you asked," Diego added. Luther nodded and continued.

"-right. He told us to tell you that he's not mad."

"Not mad?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, so he's not mad at me but he refuses to talk or look at me?"

Luther shrugged as if to say 'I don't know what else to tell you'.

"Did he say anything else?" Ben pressed, desperate for answers. He swore to God, he'd faster find the cure to cancer than figure out what went through this kid's head.

"Not about you, no. Just asked how you were doing. How everyone else was doing."

"Well if he picked up a damn phone, he'd know." More quiet and awkward fidgeting. No one knew what to say. Ben remembered what Diego had said to him in the car on the way home from admitting Klaus. He clenched his teeth and let the anger within him dissipate with effort. There truly was only one thing that mattered and it wasn't how Klaus was avoiding Ben at all costs. "How- How did he look?" He asked in a small, calmer voice.

"Way better. Like  _way_ better, dude." Diego exclaimed. "I had almost forgotten he could look like a healthy human being."

"How long is he staying?" Vanya asked, nearly reading Ben's mind and beating him to the question.

"He didn't want to put a definite date on it. He said he'd just feel it out for whenever felt right." Allison answered Vanya, but while looking straight at Ben.

"Hm. Good for him." Five offered up, returning his attention to his food and forking some rice into his mouth, already mentally moving on from the conversation. That allowed the whole table to bridge away from the awkward topic of uncertainty, but the underlying feeling of its presence was still there. After a few minutes of thinking everything over, Ben felt like he needed space.

"I'm gonna go for a walk."

"Ben, you hardly touched your food, dear."

"I'm fine, Mom." He reassured, passing her chair on his way out and giving her shoulder a squeeze. She smiled sweetly up at him before he turned and left to walk some things off his mind.

After that night, Ben stopped calling. He stopped trying to visit. He stopped trying at all. It wasn't that he stopped caring, he just got the message that he wasn't going to hear from Klaus unless Klaus wanted it to happen… and apparently, he didn't.

He wouldn't lie- it stung quite a bit. How could he possibly claim he wasn't mad? What did that even mean? He was disappointed? He felt betrayed? Or worse, he just simply didn't care anymore?

 _Let it go. Let it play out. You can't control everything, most of all Klaus. You have a life now- live it._ Ben tried to convince himself daily. And slowly, he started to obey those sentiments. He met new people when he went out- not like he was forging deep friendships or anything, but having people that only he knew, apart from his siblings, it felt good.

He found new favorite places around town. He was getting quite good at driving with the help of Diego and Luther. He, Five, and Vanya went out for coffee often. He got to meet Claire when she came into town to visit for a weekend. Part of him was just sad that Klaus wasn't around to meet her too, but Vanya had just recently visited Klaus and said he was doing increasingly well.

Ben didn't even know what that entailed or how she really knew, but he tried not to press.

Before he knew it, they were creeping up on three weeks since they had dropped Klaus off. Three weeks was much longer than he anticipated, and it felt even longer. It felt like it had been years since he's seen his brother or heard his late-night ramblings about conspiracy theories and breakfast food.

Most emotions that fought over Ben for dominance concerning the matter had faded out. The anger, the guilt, the disappointment, the anxiety… Nowadays, Ben just plain missed him. He didn't let this consume him, but that ache was constantly there. There were small moments like when Diego would do something that Ben and Klaus would normally make fun of secretly- he'd instinctively turn, but Klaus was never there. But that emptiness was most apparent in lonely moments when Ben tried to fall asleep alone in a dark room knowing that the room across the hall was  _still_ empty.

_Leave it be. Let it play out. He'll be okay. You'll be okay._

"Ben!" Luther shouted from downstairs, waking Ben from his deep thought about the last three weeks. He jumped and grabbed his mask from his dresser.

Anomaly in Nicaragua. One of the last, according to Five. He took a deep breath, trying to psych himself up enough to be able to at least keep himself and his siblings from dying if needed on this mission.

"Coming! I'm coming!" Ben yelled back, knowing that he had been holding his siblings up for nearly five minutes now.

"No... phone. For you." Luther called back. Ben frowned suspiciously.

_Now, now. Don't get your hopes up. Probably just Abbie to tell you about a Chaplin Movie Marathon event going on tomorrow or something._

He recently met her when he was out one day and they clicked pretty fast. She was just a friend though, despite his siblings' pestering. Ben didn't have the time or energy to even consider anything more right now.

When Number Six trotted down to the kitchen, he saw that Luther was already gone. The phone was laid on the counter, the mystery-person most likely waiting on the other end of the line.

_Probably just Abbie. Just Abbie._

He knew it wasn't Abbie.

"Hello?"

Only a short beat of time passed by, but it felt like Ben waited there for hours. At one point, he figured that there was no longer anyone on the phone. But then…

"Hi."

_Thump-thump thump-thump thump-thump thump-thump._

Ben heart screamed at him to not make the wrong move and mess this up. Heavens knew he seemingly already did that.

"Hey."

Klaus and Ben sat in the heaviest silence that he's ever felt. Finally, the achingly familiar voice cleared his throat.

"Hey, can you come get me?"

Ben wiped his sweaty palms on the pants of his uniform, hating the way they were shaking simultaneously. This was ridiculous- Just Klaus. This was just Klaus. To be fair though, it had been three weeks of not knowing what on Earth his brother was thinking, doing, or how he may be changing. That was brand new territory for the two of them. They  _always_ knew everything about each other at every point and time. Now though… It felt like Ben was talking to a long-lost friend from years ago.

And what… now he was coming home? That couldn't be true. After all this time, Ben felt like it was hard to let himself believe.

"…right now?"

"Yeah."

"Uh… Yeah, yeah. I can grab Luther or Diego and ask if they can drive over to-"

"But will you come?"

Ben could literally feel his eyebrows knit together in cautious concentration but his face was frozen and unwilling to unwind in its warped state. His mind screamed a billion things, but his mouth just didn't seem to be on the same page.

_Of course, I'll come. But why now? Why have you been avoiding me? Are you really ready to come home? Are you staying at home? Are you really not mad? Are you okay? Are the ghosts any better? The cravings?_

"Twenty minutes, okay?"

"Okay. See ya, Ben."

"See ya, Klaus."

As soon as he hung up the phone, Ben charged out of the house, hoping to grab someone to drive him over to the facility. In the short time it took him to get outside though, he remembered why they were all out there in the first place.

The mission… Oh yeah. Shit.

"What'd he want?" Luther asked as soon as Ben bounded out the door.

"To be picked up."

"Wait, really?" Allison chirped up.

"Well, it has nearly been three weeks." Five added. "But we've gotta go. C'mon. C'mon."

Luther looked at Ben guiltily.

"Can he hold on for a few hours?"

Ben waved his hand dismissively in front of him.

"You guys go ahead. I'll get him."

"You can't drive."

"I  _can_ drive. I just don't  _technically_ have a license."

Glances were exchanged, watches were checked, reluctant decisions were made.

"Okay. Okay, yeah. Be careful." Luther said.

"You too."

The drive there barely registered in Ben's mind. He was going over so many possible situations in his head, everything he thought he should say or shouldn't say. Should he address it at all? Should he wait for Klaus to?

Suddenly, he wished someone was coming with him.

Before he knew it, Ben was walking back through those big glass doors that he hadn't seen in a couple of weeks. The sights, sounds, and smells that seemed so foreign to Ben the first time he walked in struck a new chord of anxious familiarity. The last time he was in here, he was being told once again that Klaus didn't want to see him. The last time he was here, Ben started to think that maybe he lost a brother.

"Can I help you, Sir?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm picking up Klaus Hargreeves." Ben said politely, glancing around the large lobby to see if his brother was already there- No dice.

"Oh, yes. One moment. Please take a seat in the meantime."

Ben smiled and did as he was told even though he wasn't sure how long he could remain sitting in one place.

About twenty seconds- that's how long before Ben had to stand up again, shuffling back and forth on his feet. Every time someone new walked into the lobby area from the large corridor, his head snapped up, waiting for it be Klaus. After a few times, Ben thought maybe he should, in fact, take a seat and focus on relaxing the spazzy bird trapped in his chest.

Right before he could though, there was movement in the corridor and Ben looked up instinctively once more.

There he was. Ben wasn't really sure what he had been expecting- it was just Klaus as he's always known him with his uniquely flashy wardrobe, scruffy hair, and mischievously curious eyes. The only difference was that  _this_ Klaus was obviously much healthier. For the first time in an eternity, his skin wasn't discolored by bruises, burns or lacerations from "experimental" nights spent with strangers. The only darkness underneath his eyes was the light application of the usual eyeliner rather than the recent appearances of dark, tired circles. He had also lost quite a bit of weight leading up to when they had first admitted him, and Klaus was obviously not someone who could really spare the loss of much weight. He seemed to have regained a bit though, no longer appearing as just skin and bones.

At first, Klaus didn't see Ben since a Doctor held his attention at a counter across the room, trying to flip through release papers with the outwardly impatient, antsy Number Four. Klaus was nodding along to everything the man said, but only in the way that Ben recognized to be his 'Yeah, there's no way in hell I heard a word you just said' nod. As he did, Klaus scanned the room, his eyes quickly falling on Ben who stood waiting with fidgeting hands.

Their eyes locked and instantly Klaus's face sprouted into an excited smile, sending waves of relief through Ben. His body relaxed, muscles that he didn't even realize he was holding hostage finally letting go. Klaus bit his bottom lip through his grin and Ben couldn't help but break into a small, genuine smile himself.

Number Four angled one side of his face forward and gave Ben an exaggeratingly seductive wink. Ben chuckled and rolled his eyes before playing along, giving him a wink back and feeling his smile grow bigger.

A hand raised in front of Klaus's face and snapped twice, returning Klaus's attention back to the doctor who was adamantly trying to get these papers explained and signed. Four rolled his eyes and grabbed the packet from the guy's hand and stopping the guy's spiel short. Klaus flipped through haphazardly and signed his name quickly on a few sheets before dropping everything back onto the counter in a sloppy pile. The doctor seemed to be hiding amusement, doing his best to cover it up with a look of patient disapproval. Klaus slung his bag over his shoulders and started walking away, but the doctor called him back. It was loud enough for Ben to hear across the room and over the garble of side conversations.

"Klaus!"

Klaus's shoulders slumped as he spun on his heel and threw his hands up in frustration. Ben sighed and patiently stuffed his hands in his pockets.

 _Behave._ He thought, truly hoping that Klaus didn't give them too much trouble in the past few weeks.

As soon as Klaus turned around to see what the doctor wanted though, the man hit him with a drilling gaze that wasn't at all intimidating, but rather the kind of look that said  _'listen to me well, I'm trying to help you'._

And boy did Klaus suddenly drop the act and start listening. His body language became still and contained. Ben could see only the right side of his face, but it was enough to tell that Klaus was very intently listening to what the doctor was saying. Once the doctor was done, Klaus nodded- this time attentively. The guy gave Klaus a small smile that very clearly said 'Goodbye' and Klaus smiled back.

They launched into a ridiculous, custom-made handshake that could've only been by Klaus's design, and then Klaus saluted him before turning and making his way across the room again. Ben just barely caught the doctor waving at  _him_  and Ben politely waved back, hoping the gaze he wore appeared as grateful for the guy as he felt.

Ben then turned to grab his keys (or Luther's keys, more-so) from the couch cushion where he left them. When he straightened and turned around again, Klaus had almost closed the distance between them, taking his time in waltzing over. Ben opened his mouth to ask him if he was sure that he grabbed all of his stuff, but before he knew it, Klaus's bag hit the floor and his brother rushed forward.

Ben was hit with about 140 pounds of excitement, arms wrapping around him and squeezing all the air from his lungs. Ben just barely managed to get his own arms around Klaus, laughing quietly into his brother's shoulder.

"Hey." He mumbled into Klaus's shirt, relishing in the warmth that spread through his chest at being able to finally put his worries about losing his brother to rest.

For now, anyway. Ben learned a long time ago that he could never be too cautious with Klaus.

His brother didn't say anything but he didn't let go either. Ben realized that he wasn't giving him his usual quick and sometimes personally invasive Klaus greeting- this was much more emotionally charged than that. Ben could feel Klaus's lungs expand and release with a big sigh of air. He could even feel the muscles through his shirt relax with that sigh, Klaus's arm snaking further around Ben to hold him tighter.

Yeah, this was definitely a no-words-needed kind of hug.

He was smiling like an idiot, he knew- Ben couldn't help it though. There was one tiny fleeting moment where the weight of it all suddenly got to Ben, pressure rising to his throat as he realized that this day could've just as easily been a very different day- Ben heading out to visit a grave rather than picking up a live person. He said a small prayer of thanks that his brother was here in front of him rather than buried six feet under cold, dark ground.

Ben wasn't sure how much time went by before he opened the eyes he didn't even realize he had squeezed shut to see a woman staring at them from across the room. Awkwardly, Ben relinquished his hold on Klaus and his brother followed suit.

"Okay, okay. People are staring." Ben said, knowing that if he didn't push them along to the car, they probably could've stayed there forever just swimming in much-needed relief.

Klaus spun around to see the woman, smirking.

"Pretty sure that one's a closeted homophobe. You should see him in bed!" Klaus called to her, absolutely no regard for every gaze that snapped to them. To further make his point, he delivered a quick but hard slap to the seat of Ben's jeans. He instinctively shoved Klaus back in response, rolling his eyes and chuckling in disbelief.

"Please refrain from touching my ass  _at least_ until we've reached the parking lot for God's sake." Ben joked, pushing past a giggling Klaus to pick up the bag he had discarded onto the ground a moment ago. As Ben slung it onto his shoulder, he gave the horrified woman one last look before heading towards the door. He needed to get them out of here before Klaus insisted on making any more lasting impressions on these people.

"Mah, Mah. What a  _gentleman,_ sir." Klaus said in an eccentric southern belle accent when he realized Ben grabbed his bag for him.

"I live to serve." Ben said sarcastically, putting a hand on the small of Klaus's back and giving him a gentle shove towards the door.

"Buh-bye, bitches!" He called out. Ben closed his eyes and shook his head. Klaus turned back and waved at the room, earning a perfect mix of amused smiles that told you they knew exactly what Klaus was like and some disapproving glares. "See ya, sluts! Catchya-"

"Klaus! Do you want me to leave you here?"

"No, Sir!" He called like a soldier. Ben was thrilled that he was excited to be going home but Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, could he at least hold it in until they got outside? He wouldn't dare complain  _too_ much though. After all, he had missed this energy from Klaus for over a month now. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen Klaus acting this genuinely excitable.

"Wait- Who drove you?" Klaus asked when the reached the empty car.

"Me, myself and I."

"You can't drive."

"I've been practicing a lot."

"Oh, wonderful!" Klaus clapped, hopping into the passenger seat as Ben climbed in the driver's. "Now I don't need to waste all the time learning. I've got my own personal chauffeur." He said  _chauffeur_ as if he was some British tycoon worth a trillion bucks.

"Mm." Ben mumbled as if to say,  _is that so?_ "Plus the others are busy. There's an anomaly in Nicaragua."

"I could've waited. You don't think they'd need you?" Klaus asked, rifling through the glove compartment and fishing out a small box of mints.

"Nah. They've been getting smaller and less threatening. Five says this may be one of the last ones."

"Fun." Klaus remarked distractedly, obviously already bored of the conversation as he chewed on his mint. The rest of the car ride, they didn't address much of what happened in the last three weeks. Actually… they didn't talk about it at all. Instead, they slipped back into the same banter they've always engaged in, finding the comfortable familiarity from before shit hit the fan.

Ben was grateful for this moment, but there was also an underlying pin poking at the back of his mind reminding him that there was still so much left unsaid under the surface.

At a later time, maybe.

At one point as they cruised down a long stretch of open road in a more rural area, Ben caught Klaus looking at the speedometer. Ben looked over at his brother who had already looked away, a smile creeping onto Klaus's face.

Ben scoffed and shook his head. This was the road that Diego liked to fly down when they were teenagers to pull reactions of excited exhilaration from Klaus and Ben. Well… Ben would've been a ghost at that point and Diego wouldn't have known he enjoyed it just as much as Klaus did, but still.

 _Fine. You win._ Ben thought, pushing down on the gas pedal a little harder, the car launching up past 70 mph on the 50 mph road. He saw Klaus smile giddily in the car's mirror. He whipped his head back towards Ben, glancing once again at the speedometer.

He fake-coughed, peppering in, "Chicken" as if he cared about being subtle.

"Dude, I don't have a license."

"Cheep, cheep, Ben." Klaus accused in a flat voice, flashing his brother a challenging smile. Ben spared no expense to shoot an arm to the side and shove Klaus's head away from him.

"Dick."

 _Vrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhh._ The car revved up and with a lurch, they shot down the stretch, gaining speed. 75, 80, 85, 90…

Klaus rolled down his window with a beaming grin on his face and stuck his head out like a dog enjoying a Sunday drive. In a manner Ben couldn've predicted, Klaus screamed into the air at a pitch that was nearly inhumanly high. He may as well have thought he was riding the Top Thrill Dragster roller coaster at this rate.

When Ben finally pulled up to the Academy to a slow and careful stop, Klaus's hair was a ruffled mess on his head but he seemed happy enough- genuinely happy. Wow… What new territory this was. It made some of the weight that had been weighing on Ben's shoulders the past couple weeks lift just a bit. He was constantly worrying that he hadn't made the right choice sending Klaus away- that he was too cruel.

Not that he agreed with the manner in which he did it, but Ben could finally allow himself the solace of knowing that he didn't regret pushing Klaus in the right direction to take some time for himself, even if that meant forcing Ben to likewise take time for himself as well.

When the car slowed to an eventually parked stance, the engine faded off and they were left in silence- the kind of silence that you could only achieve in the unmoving interior of a car. Ben could feel his rational intuition poking at his brain:  _This is it. You both have to address everything that's happened._

Ben could feel that Klaus sensed it too. No more jokes… No more pestering… No more smiles…

They both sat forward, refusing to look at each other or even make a single movement. A couple of seconds turned into a minute and suddenly, Klaus made the first move, his voice low and saturated with a darkness that wasn't typical for Klaus's character but often showed itself when he knew that something was too serious to wave away with quips and giggles.

"Okay… I-"

The car lurched to one side, knocking both Klaus and Ben to the left and scaring the shit out of them both.

"Fuck…" Klaus muttered. They both snapped their attention to the passenger-side window where five faces stared through the window, idiotic smiles on each one.

The rest of the family was back, and each one was pressed against the car gazing in at Klaus with gazes that said ' _You better fucking believe you're in for a bunch of disgustingly cheesy hugs, pal_ '.

"Oh, dear lawd." Klaus whispered in a high-pitched voice before his door was yanked open. Klaus erupted into giggles as a hand grabbed his shirt and hoisted him out of the car. Diego, the culprit, instantly tackled him into the grass while trying to pin him down. Klaus put up a good fight though, the two of them hashing it out in the Academy's front yard.

"Boys! Boys, behave yourselves." Mom's voice drifted over from the front door as Ben exited the car. He threw the keys to Luther who nodded appreciatively. Klaus and Diego broke apart with heavy breaths and dopey smiles.

"Hi, Mom." Klaus chirped happily, brushing the grass off his pants and approaching Mom with a shy smile. He kissed her cheek and she brushed his hair from his forehead.

"I'm so glad you're home, dear."

"Me too."

They went inside after that, launching into stories about the mission and catching both Klaus and Ben up. Everything moved on as normal. No one mentioned the 3-week hole that was drilled into the family recently. It was full again- why would they?

Later, Ben was reading in his room. Well… He was trying his damned hardest. Really, he just wondered how Klaus was doing in his own room down the hall. They had all split up to retire early- an exhausting day and all.

Admittedly, Ben was worried though. He wasn't sure the protocol for this sort of thing- what do you do with someone who just recently returned from a rehabilitation center focused on patients who were fixated on dying?

 _You can't control everything. If he needs you, he'll come. Read your damned book, Ben._ Number Six told himself over and over again. And he did- he did come.

That night, he heard the subtle creaking of his door inching open. Ben didn't look up; somehow, he knew exactly who it was and why he was here.

Before he knew it, there was a tall, timid presence beside his bed. Ben didn't look up from the words on his page and he didn't need to. Klaus took no time to crouch besides Ben and wiggle his way under his arm, finagling his whole body in between where Ben held his book before him.

"What are you doing?" Ben laughed, letting Klaus nuzzle his way in between his arms and onto his bed. Klaus ignored his question but it hadn't really warranted an answer anyway. Instead, he nestled right into Ben's chest, finally settling into his new position that was similar to a leech latching onto its prey.

Ben felt the weight of Klaus's head propped up against his collarbone. He glanced down to see that Klaus was gazing at the pages of his book. He didn't need further instructions- Ben knew what he wanted.

And so they read together- the often did before when they shared a life. Neither of them really understood the "laws" of ghost-hood, but there were only some particular books that Ben could physically grasp by himself in the afterlife. The other books, he had to rely on Klaus for. He'd hold the book open for them both, turning the pages when he was ready because Ben could read faster than him anyway.

"Kay," Klaus said out loud. Ben smiled a bit, turning the page after realizing that this would be how he indicated that he was done with reading and ready for the next turn. Ben finished the next couple of pages and waited. "Kay," Klaus mumbled. Ben turned.

They went along like that for a while. Ben was grateful that he was currently reading a book that he knew Klaus would be interested in enough, even if he jumped in near the middle.

Soon though, Ben waitied for Klaus's "kay", but none came. He waited… and waited… and waited…

"Klaus?" He whispered, trying to glance down. Klaus was stagnant against his chest except for the steady rise and fall of his chest: Asleep. Alright.

Ben kept reading on his own, disregarding the dead weight between his arms. Eventually, his own eyes grew heavy and the light beside his bed was hurting his brain. Carefully, he reached over and flipped it off, easing Klaus down onto the bed and retracting his arm from around him so that Ben too could bury himself under the covers and ready himself for sleep.

He was so close to doing so too. And then…

"Ben?"

Ben's eyes snapped open. He only saw darkness at first, but his eyes adjusted to see the outline of Klaus in the moonlight seeping through his window. His brother's eyes were open and alert once more, his irises gleaming against the inky appearance of the atmosphere around him.

He was scared. Klaus was scared. Whatever he was about to say, it was important. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this was it- the talk that they'd been procrastinating against.

Ben turned fully on his side towards his brother, showing him that he had his full attention. He stuffed his bend arm underneath his own head, propping him up to look into Klaus's eyes. That was enough to tell Number Four that he was here and ready to listen.

Klaus sighed, his breath wavering.

"I didn't mean to come off like I was being a little bitch or anything." He mumbled guiltily. Ben watched the shine of his iris's disappear as his brother turned his gaze downwards like a child admitting that he stole a cookie before dinner.

"It's okay," Ben answered honestly, knowing that he was referring to the way he avoided him for three weeks. "I shouldn't have tricked you into everything like that. Sorry, dude."

"No, no... I mean, yeah I never thought you'd have the balls to pull that quite frankly, but now I wouldn't blame you even if you knocked me upside the head and tied me up, to be honest. But afterwards... I just- It wasn't that I was mad. I promise, Benny. I- I just felt like it was for the best at the time. For you and for me."

Ben was quiet while he thought about that. He guessed that maybe, in an unlikely, rare occurrence, Klaus did, in fact, make a bold, serious judgment for the best. The distance  _had_ allowed both of them to work on some things separately and maybe that's what they needed- to just stay out of each other's business for a little bit while things sorted themselves out.

"What did Diego say to you?" Ben surprised himself, the words tumbling out before he even realized he was thinking them. "When we dropped you off."

Klaus sighed a high-pitch breath of air, turning on his back and facing the ceiling. Ben watched him intently, not quite sure what to expect.

" _Hey! Hey, listen to me!"_ Klaus said in a pretty passable Diego impression, making Ben smile.  _"Stop being such a selfish prick. You think Ben wanted it to come to this? You don't think this is eating him up right now? How can you expect that of him- Expect him to constantly feel responsible every time your dumbass runs off and gets yourself killed? Your actions just don't affect you bud, sorry to tell you. That's what family is- we're all pulled down with you in our own ways so for God's sake if you don't have the self-respect do this for yourself then do it for the person out there who honestly believed it was on him that his brother ran off and fucked himself up past recognition."_

Klaus's Diego-monologue had started light and like a joke. He held that mischievous gleam in his eye that told you  _'Oh yeah, I_ know  _I'm being funny'_ , but once he reached the part about the situation eating Ben up, the twinkle faded and his eyes went dark. His voice slipped away from the Diego imitation and soon it was just Klaus, reciting the words from his mind like it had been just yesterday.

And shit… Ben felt the pressure rising to his throat all over again. It made it hard to speak, but he pushed through.

"Hm. I wish he hadn't made it about me."

"Glad he did. There was no way in hell that I was going in there for  _me_ at that point in time."

"What about after? What made you stay?"

"Hmmmmmm…" Klaus sighed a high sigh again. "I mean, I was mad the first day. Furious, even. But I did think of you a lot. How unfair it was to you to keep you running in this cycle. And everyone else too, but… You know, especially you."

Ben felt a sad smile warp his features. He meant what he said- he never wanted that day to turn into something about  _his_ problems- Klaus had enough on his own. He didn't need to be worrying about Ben. But part of him, a big part, was just plain grateful and relieved to know that Klaus did in fact care more than he was letting on at the time.

"And it wasn't all bad. Much better than drug rehab."

Klaus didn't say anything else about what exactly he did there or what their program was like. Ben didn't know it at the time obviously, but he never would either. That was okay with Ben. It seemed like something that Klaus should keep for purely himself. He did mention a few things that he was working on though.

"Getting out of the house if I feel funky. Stopping and remembering things I'm grateful for and yadda yadda. Coming to talk to you or someone if there's something nagging me, even if it's just being near another human." Klaus rattled off some of the things he was supposed to engage in moving forward.

"Is that why you came and read with me?" Ben ventured to ask, hoping it wouldn't open a can of something that Klaus didn't yet want to open. "Tonight, I mean?"

"Oh." Klaus shrugged. "Yeah… I don't know. My bed just feels weird right now. Kind of felt hard to breathe in there. Don't know why."

"You don't always have to know."

"Yeah… Thanks, Ben."

He didn't realize that was something that warranted a 'thank you' but then Ben realized that he wasn't just referring to anything in particular right now, just everything in general.

"I just don't want to lose you. Please." Ben said, trying to keep his voice as casual as he could but probably failing.

"Okay, Benny-boy." Klaus complied short and innocently. It went quiet for a while and Ben started to suspect that his brother had fallen asleep next to him. He was about to turn over and do the same himself, but Klaus's voice cut through the air again.

"Ben?"

Ben opened his eyes to see Klaus had turned on his side to directly face him again, his eyes searching Ben's face intently.

"Hm?"

Klaus opened his mouth to say something but closed it quickly. His eyes fixated on Ben's and even in the darkness, Ben could read them just as easily as the book they had just read earlier. With eyebrows knit together and no signs of even blinking, Klaus's gaze begged him to understand what he was saying purely through look.

And Ben did. Klaus didn't need to say it.

Ben smiled for what felt like the billionth time today, feeling his chest swell like a happy balloon- a feeling he didn't even remember he  _could_ have. He stared back at Klaus.

 _I love you too, dumbass._ His own look said. Klaus smiled, reading his expression just as seamlessly as Ben read his. Satisfied, Klaus turned back to look up at the ceiling.

"Get some sleep. Let's bug Diego until he takes us driving tomorrow."

"Ooh, yes  _please._ And some cannoli's too. I could fuck hard with some cannoli right now."

"Sure."

"Possibly some tacos. Maybe some waffles. Most definitely cannoli though-"

"Klaus."

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

"Sleep, right. Okay. Sleep, mhm." He muttered to himself, rolling over to turn away from Ben and burrowed under the covers. Ben smiled and shook his head, sighing before letting sleep slowly consume him as well. And with his brother  _finally_ safe at his side, it wasn't too hard.

Nothing was magically fixed. Those three weeks apart worked wonders, but that didn't mean they could just flip a switch on happiness. Ben knew this. From then on, there had been a few more scares- a few more slip-ups where Klaus disappeared and nearly fell back onto a bad habit or a bad crowd. But even though there was no way for them to know exactly how things would play out in that moment, if someone could teleport into the future and tell them (Well, technically Five  _could_ but that was beside the point), they'd know that after 30 years of their constant, horrible roller coaster ride, everything would slowly get better with each passing day.

For now, they didn't need to know that though. They were optimistic enough to just let things play out and take things one day at a time.

For now, they seemed to have beaten the grim-looking odds and were breathing, alive, and together.

For now, they were their own Castor and Pollux but with their own happier ending.

For now, they just slept.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end... for this story! The ending actually changed quite a bit as I was writing. Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Here's the deal for upcoming Klaus-fics: My next "big" one is going to be a Klaus/Dave fic. At first, it was going to be a bunch of short moments that they shared in Vietnam, but now as I realize that I have 10-months of uncharted territory to work with and as I fall harder and harder for their relationship, I think I actually want to flesh it out into a full start-to-finish story of those 10 months which may take a while.
> 
> In the meantime, I'm thinking of starting a "Deleted Scenes" Fic that I can update every once in a while with moments in between the scenes they show in the TV-show, OR just putting a bunch of small one-shots out there. Probably a little of both. Keep watch for those and for the Klaus/Dave fic!
> 
> Also- It seems like Robbie and the other cast members are having a lot of fun in Toronto right now. I don't think he's cut his hair yet, so I wonder if any Klaus scenes have been filmed yet. Still, we're getting there! Season 2, here we come!


End file.
